Across Time
by Ahsilaa
Summary: Time can be rewritten. But what if it was rewritten so completely that it was no longer Amy that the Doctor met first? How would things change if, instead of Amy Pond, there was an American anomaly? And when Silence falls, who is it that will do anything to make sure she dies? We were told that time can be re-writen but how much can it change? First in The Anomaly Series. Doctor/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Edited: 03/07/2013**

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The Eleventh Hour

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Late at night, a young girl no more than thirteen sat up in her room praying for the voices to stop. Her aunt had been gone for hours and she was left alone in the house, not that it bothered her. She had always been left alone even before she moved to Scotland , her adopted parents weren't always there for her but now all she wanted was her mother to hold her tight and tell her nothing was wrong in the way that – even though she knew it was a lie – would make her feel a little better.

"Hi there…um I know that I haven't really been too religious lately but it is an emergency. Ever since I've come to live here, there has been a crack in my wall and…and sometimes I can hear voices. Aunt Leah said that it's an ordinary crack but she hasn't been in my room long enough to see it before she has to go out again.

"Look I know that you're busy and all but do you think that you can maybe send someone to fix it or maybe at least stop the voices I hear? I would appreciate it very much if you would so-" the girl heard a whirring noise coming from the outside of her window and she paused for a minuet. Seconds later she heard a crash. Turning around she ran to her window and looked out and saw something smoking and there were flickers of fire coming out of something blue.

The same something that had landed on her Aunt's shed. _Oh my god! _Quickly grabbing her torch she ran outside to the back garden and went to investigate. She slowly walked up to it and looked at the thing noticing the words 'Police Box' on the sides. _Well that wasn't exactly what I was talking about but okay…_ She walked closer and looked at it.

Suddenly the doors opened and a grappler flew out and attached itself onto the bottom of the swing set that was in the garden. Looking back at the box, she noticed two hands on top of it and then a face popped up. A man and that man was smiling, or at least it looked like he was smiling. She stared at him and he stared back with a grin on his face. He opened his mouth and said the oddest thing that she had ever heard in a situation like this:

"Can I have an apple?" She frowned and the guy carried on. "All I can think about is apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving - that's new never had cravings before." He stopped talking and then tried to lift himself up, as if it was a mountain that he had to climb and he was at the very top, trying to lift himself up. He clambered on to the edge and looked into the inside of the box. "Ohh, look at that." _Okay then, he's obviously mad but what the hell? I may as well give him his apple. _

"Are you okay?" She asked still looking at the man with curiosity.

"Just had a fall, all the way down there to the library." _Yep. Defiantly mad._ "Hell of a climb back up."

"Uh huh, but your soaking wet." She observed.

"I was in the swimming pool." The girl frowned at the statement; it was said as if was the most normal thing in the world.

"You said you were in the library." She reminded him crossing her arms and leaning to one side starring at him.

"So was the swimming pool." He said nodding his head but she frowned and looked at him like he was mad.

"Okay so let me get this straight. You just climbed from the library up to here while soaking wet because you fell into the pool which was also in the library?" The man nodded and she raised her eyebrows. "Okay then. Well look, are you like a police man or something?" It was clear that she wasn't getting anywhere with this man.

"Why? Did you call a police man?" He didn't sound like he was nervous, just asking a question she observed.

"Not unless you deal with cracks." She said. This seemed to catch the man's attention a little bit more as he turned around to face her more. The girl now had _most_ of his attention.

"What cra-" He fell off the side and onto the ground suddenly, almost like he was having a muscle spasm; that worried her slightly as she had never seen one before.

"Hey, are you okay dude?" She asked genuinely worried now. She crouched to the ground wondering what to do.

"I'm fine, I'm okay. This is all just perfectly normal!" Although to her, it sounded like he was having trouble breathing. She was just about to ask again when the man coughed out a golden sort of dust. As odd as it was, there was something about the golden dust that intrigued her, not frightened her as it probably should have done. In fact, in all honesty, seeing it made her excited – but she had no idea why.

"Who are you?" The girl asked while thinking to herself _okay, not weird at all. _His hands had the same sort of gold dust and glow around him as he had let out earlier.

"I don't know yet, I'm still cooking." He said also looking at his hands but then he turned to her. The girl thought she saw a flash of something but it was gone way before she could identify it. "Does it scare you?" Immediately she shook her head. She had already seen a lot that she _should _be scared of but she hadn't been scared of that. Granted they were mostly in her dreams but this wasn't much different.

"No not really, I guess I'm just good with weird and this is definitely weird."

"No, no, no, the crack in your wall; does it scare you?" He asked looking right at her. She looked at him for a little while before she nodded hesitantly. "Yes, it does." Suddenly he jumped up and smiled once again.

"Well then, no time to loose. I'm the Doctor . Do everything I tell you, don't ask stupid questions and don't wonder off." He turned and started walking towards the house leaving her behind. _Great,_ she thought._ I've just invited a mad man inside my home._ But just as she was about to follow him he crashed into a tree and fell to the ground.

"Are you alright?" She asked him again looking at him from where she was standing.

"Early days, the steering is a bit off." She looked at him oddly before shrugging. He got up and walked right into her house until he found the kitchen and then he started looking around. She walked over to the fruit basket and got out an apple before chucking it at him. He caught it and looked at it.

"Alright then, if you're a Doctor then why does your box say police? Or is that too stupid a question for me to ask huh Doc?" He looked at her and frowned.

"Don't call me doc." He said simply before taking a bite out of the apple and chewing it a few times. Winter watched him in disbelief, as he spat it out.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?" She asked. He looked at her before answering. "That's disgusting, what is that?" She rolled her eyes in disbelief. "It's an apple."

"Apples' are rubbish, I hate apples." He stretched out his hand for her to take it back.

"_You _said you loved them." She challenged not taking the apple. Taking the hint he brought his arm back.

"No, no, no, I'll have yogurt. Yogurt's are my favorite, give me yogurt." She ran to the fridge and got out the yogurt and gave it to him. He opened it and drank it from the pot before spitting it out, the now a little annoyed teen felt a little of it hit her face and she licked her lips and took a deep breath before wiping it off.

"What the hell was that for?" She asked him, he turned his head and looked at her obviously not knowing what he had done wrong. "You just spat the yogurt out on the floor. You do realize that I'm going to have to clear that up right? And on top of that you got some of it on my _face_!" She screeched. He ignored her.

"I hate yogurt, it's just stuff with bits in." He handed her the almost empty container and she growled. "Did you just growl?" he asked grinning, she did not answer and just went to the table and sat down on a chair.

"You want food? You go look for it then." She indicated around the kitchen and he shrugged and looked around it for food repeating the same thing over and over again; it was the same, he found something and he spat it out. It went on like that – with beans, bacon, toast and all kinds of things - for a good half an hour before the girl took pity on him.

"Check the freezer, and while you're in there get out the cookie dough ice-cream please?" He went over to the freezer and did just what she asked him to do and then he took out the fish fingers and the custard. "Pray tell, what are you going to do with that?" she asked after he had finished cooking the fish fingers and heating the custard.

"Eat it, what else?" he dipped a fish finger into the custard and then eating it. Before she could say anything else he grabbed the bowl, brought the whole thing to his mouth and drank it. _Okay, I think I'm going to be sick._ She thought. She looked down and ate some of the ice-cream in her hand.

"Weird." Was all she said to him as he dipped in another fish finger and ate it.

"Am I? That's good. Weird is good." She rolled her eyes. "What's your name?" She paused. Logically she knew she should probably lie but there was something there telling her to tell him he truth against her better judgement. Instead of fighting with herself she came to a conclusion: she would tell him her middle name.

"Winter Swann." A huge smile leapt across his face and his eyes softened. For a minute, Winter thought she saw recognition flash through them but it was gone too quickly for her to make it out. There was also another emotion; it was fleeting and odd - one that Winter had never seen before so, for the moment, she decided to dismiss it.

"Ohh brilliant name that is, graceful too. Winter Swann, like a name in a fairy tale." Winter smiled at the compliment but then frowned once she looked at the mess on the floor. "You're still cleaning

up that mess you left." She said and the Doctor grinned at her cheekily.

"Are we in America Winter?" he asked. "Nope, were in Scotland, I had to move here about a year ago to live with my 'aunt'." She made quotation marks around the word and the Doctor thought that a bit odd, then, thinking about it he decided it wasn't that odd.

"What about your parents then? I would have thought that we'd have woken them up by now." She didn't let on the hurt she felt when he brought them up.

"I never knew them." Was all she said before eating more ice-cream. "I only live with my aunt."

"I don't even have an aunt." He said, trying to cheer her up.

"Count yourself lucky then." She smiled.

"I know." He carried on eating for a few seconds never stopping from looking at her. "So your aunt, where is she?" he asked. Winter shrugged casually, not really caring.

"Probably out with some guy, or at a club. Though there isn't much to do here so I don't know."

"And she left you all alone?" Winter rolled her eyes at him.

"The law states that in any region of Great Briton, a child above the age of 12 is allowed to be left without child supervision for various periods of time." It was a subtle warning, the Doctor noticed, telling him that she didn't like people babying her and he smiled at it however it was odd how she changed to a formal tone. "And besides, it's not like I'm scared."

"Course your not, your not scared of anything. A box falls out of the sky, man falls out of box, man eats fish custard." He took another mouthful of it, "and look at you, sitting there eating ice-cream." She shrugged at him.

"I told you, I'm good with weird." She said and then carried on too quiet for him to hear her. "And with bad too."

"So you know what I think?" He paused for a second. "It must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall." She took him upstairs to see the crack and he looked at it before once again saying the weirdest thing she had ever heard. "You've had some cowboys in here." She gave him a look that showed she had no understanding of what he was saying. "Well not actual cowboys, though that can happen." She rolled her eyes at him before taking the apple she had carved the face on giving it to him and explaining what she had done.

He took it smiling and looked back at the wall before he began to ramble on. Winter being the girl she was, lost interest once she didn't understand what he was saying and ignored him but then he asked her something.

"What?" She asked and he must have mistaken it for her answering a question because he went on to say:

"It's a crack. But I'll tell you something funny, if you knocked this wall down the crack would stay put because the crack isn't in the wall."

"Well then where is it?" She asked, paying attention now. She loved things like this. When she was younger there would be no stopping the ideas that flew through her head and as she got older she would draw them out however the next thing he said was a bit of a let down.

"Everywhere." _Yes, that is very helpful Doc._ "In everything, it's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched." _Well that is certainly more interesting._ He ran his fingers along the crack again. "Pressed together, right here in the wall of your bedroom." He pressed his ear against the wall listening for something. "Sometimes, can you hear-"

"A voice? Yeh." The Doctor seemed to have heard something because he ran to the corridor and grabbed a glass with water in it, he chucked the water out though and Winter sighed again. The Doctor pushed the glass against the wall and listened.

"Prisoner Zero…"

"Prisoner Zero has escaped." He heard Winter whisper, it was then that he knew that she really was frightened and it took a lot to frighten this girl. "That's what I hear, but what does it mean?" Her voice was back to normal and she was trying to mask her fear and she was doing a very good job in the Doctor 's opinion.

"It means that on the other side of this wall there is a prison, and they've lost a Prisoner. And do you know what that means?" He asked her. She shook her head. "That you need a better wall." He put down the cup and heard her snort. "That isn't a very ladylike thing to do now is it?" He asked her still looking at the wall.

"Would you like me to say something else? Because if you want, I can say something a little more colourful and even less lady like." He turned and saw her eyes crossed and her mouth in a frown with her arms crossed, daring him to continue.

"No, no, that's fine." He ran over to her dresser and picked it up before moving over to the other side of the room. "The only way to close the bridge is to open it all the way. The forces will invert and it will snap shut or…"

"Or? Or what? Nothing ever turns out okay when someone says or." The panic was creeping up now even though she was trying to stop it.

"You know how someone tells you that everything is going to be fine but you know they're probably lying to make you feel better?" he waited for her to answer and she did with a nod. "Everything is going to be fine." She narrowed her eyes at him but there wasn't anything he could do about it. She would freak out if she understood. _But then again, she isn't a normal girl._ He thought, momentarily contradicting himself.

He held out his hand for her to take, not knowing what she was going to do but then he felt her hand grasping his. He took a breath and raised his Sonic Screwdriver at the crack and activated it. The crack opened and a giant eye could be seen looking at them saying the same words over and over again: 'Prisoner Zero has escaped.' The eye looked around frantically searching for something but then the crack closed in a flash of while light. "There, you see I told you it would close. Good as new." He said rubbing his hands together.

"What was that thing?" She asked and the Doctor looked at her. "Was that Prisoner Zero?"

"No. I think that was his guard but whatever it was it sent me a message. Psychic paper, it takes a lovely little message." He said looking at the glowing blue bit of paper. "'Prisoner Zero has escaped.' But why tell us? Unless…" he got up and moved towards the door.

"Unless what?" Winter asked nervously and a little bit curious as to what the Doctor would say.

"Unless Prisoner Zero escaped through here."

"Are you telling me that some alien…thing could be hiding in my house?" She asked loudly. That would not be good. In fact that would be the opposite of good; if her aunt found it...God knew what would happen.

"Yeh, could be." The Doctor said looking around. "But he couldn't have, we would know." He ran out to the corridor and looked around before looking at an expectant Winter. "Its difficult, a brand new me, nothing works yet but there's something I'm missing." He was still looking around and Winter did the same thing. She looked around everywhere but something seemed off, whenever she looked at one corner of the hall her eyes suddenly moved somewhere else, like they couldn't look there. _But that could be nothing. _She thought. _Anyway, there isn't anything in that corner._ She resigned.

The Doctor had been saying something but she hadn't been listening. A clanging could be heard throughout the house and it must have been important because the Doctor ran down the stairs back out to the back garden. "How can a box have engines?" Winter asked looking at him; he was getting the grappling hook ant tying it to something.

"It's not a box, it's a time machine." He was moving now, doing something else.

"What? You mean a real time machine? You have a real time machine?" She asked not believing him in the slightest.

"Not for much longer if I don't get it stabilized. A five minuet hop into the future should do it." An idea occurred to Winter and almost hesitantly, she asked.

"Can I come?" There was the hope in her voice that was almost impossible for the Doctor to ignore but he couldn't. If he took her now, he would mess up everything. Every time stream, every meeting and possible every feeling - and he just couldn't risk that changing.

"Not safe in here not yet. Five minuets, give me five minuets. I'll be right back."

"People always say that." She said. She knew she shouldn't have hoped… it was too much but still.

"Am I people? Do I even _look_ like people?" He had climbed down from the time machine and came up to her, kneeling slightly so that he was looking in her eyes and was waiting for an answer. She shook her head. "Trust me, I'm the Doctor." She nodded and smiled at him. He climbed back onto the side and looked at her again.

"I'm holding you to that Doctor." She said still smiling. He nodded his head and turned to look down inside the box and with a 'Geronimo' he jumped. Winter heard a splash._ What do you know? There could very well be a pool after all._ She waited there for a couple of minuets and then with a whirring sound it was gone. She rushed up to her room and packed all her clothes before going back into the garden and waited. She waited and waited sitting on that suitcase until she fell asleep and that was how her aunt found her, asleep on a suitcase in the back garden.

**[][][]**

The whirring started up again and the Doctor stepped out of the time machine. "Winter?" He looked around and ran into the house calling out her name again. She was in so much trouble and she had to get out of there. "I worked out what he wants; I know what I was missing. You have to get out of there!"

He used the Sonic Screwdriver to open up the door and ran up the stairs. He ran straight to the room and used the screwdriver again. "Prisoner Zero is here. Prisoner Zero is here! Do you understand me?" He heard a creek and turned around just in time to see a bat swinging his way and the blackness. When he woke up he was on the floor with a headache as well.

"There is a man here, looks like he's in his early 20's, someone hurry." He looked up to see a young woman with white blonde hair with purple streaks framing her face in her 20's in a red shirt, jeans and a pair of black converses. Something about her seemed familiar, her hair for one thing but he couldn't remember why. The whack on his head had done something to him for the moment.

"Cricket bat…hnm…cricket bat." He shook his head a little but still looked at the young woman in front of him.

"What the hell were you doing in this house?" She asked him. Her Scottish accent ringing through the halls. All of a sudden he tried to get up but was pulled back down. He looked at his wrist and saw rope was tied around them.

"Well that's much better." He said to no one in particular. He tried to get loose but he couldn't, the rope was tied on too tightly. "Brand new me, whack on the head just what I needed. I should probably try that next time."

"Do you want to shut up?" she asked sarcastically to him. "The police are coming."

"Hang on; no wait your…who are you?"

"No one you need to be worried about. You are however breaking and entering in my house." _Her house? Must be the aunt, but no she looks too young but then Winter never told me how old her aunt was. But no! That's not right - Winter's aunt had..._shocked, the Doctor realized Winter had never actually told him what her aunt had looked like.

"Well then where's Winter?" The woman froze for an instant.

"Winter Swann?" She asked him, her face had gone pale. This was not a good sign. In all the years the Doctor had been on Earth, humans paling generally equaled very not good.

"Yeh, sarcastic American teenager?" The woman looked like she had seen a ghost. "I promised her five minuets but the engines were fazing and I suppose I might have gone a bit far." The woman still didn't say anything. "Has something happened to her?" He asked the woman but she was now shaking her head. _No, no, no, no, no, please don't let something have happened to her. _

The Doctor knew that he wouldn't be able to survive a loss again. And to have it so early on…

"Winter Swann isn't here. She hasn't been here in a long time." _No please don't mean that._ The feeling of dread filled him. He could feel his hearts breaking a little as she said that but he didn't.

"_How_ long?" He asked her silently begging for her to be lying.

"Ten months." Her hazel brown eyes never left his, studying him for…something.

"No, no, no I can't be ten months late I said five minuets. I promised." He sniffed, the only thing that indicated that he was worried. The woman turned her back on him and walked away. "Wait, what happened to her?" He asked her but she didn't answer. After a few minuets she turned back to him.

"Why do you want to know about Winter Swann?" She asked him but he couldn't answer that, instead he ignored her and got straight to the point.

I need to speak to whoever lives in this house!"

"I live here. Now answer the question!" He frowned, _oh that isn't good. _ "You live here? But your…who are you?" He asked her. Her eyes flashed with annoyance.

"For your information sir, I am a mechanic." She glared at him.

"You?" He scoffed.

"Yes! Now why do you want Winter?" She asked but he didn't answer.

"How many rooms?" He asked.

"What?" She couldn't believe him; here he was appearing back into her life after eight years and asking her how many doors there were.

"On this floor, how many rooms are their? Count them for me." He said staring into her eyes.

"Why?" _Of course she said why, no-one in their right mind would not ask why._

"Because it will change your life." It was all the explanation he was going to give her and she knew it._ But my life has already been changed, even before I met you._ She thought but she counted anyway. Six, just like their always had been, just like their always would be.

"There are six rooms in this house and I don't want to know what's behind the last one." She told him begrudgingly.

"Six - " he interrupted her before realizing what she had just said. "Wait what? How do you know there are six rooms?"

"Because I do. How do _you_ know?" She asked, smiling as she looked at the shock his face was in. It was hilarious looking at the man in shock, the same one that had very nearly ruined her life.

"No, no, no. I asked you first." He said shaking his head. The woman sighed and folded her arms in front of her.

"Low level perception filter. Really if they hadn't wanted me to see it they should have shrouded it or something but I figured that it whatever is in there will go through all that trouble to not be found then I probably shouldn't look in the room right?" The Doctor stared at her in pure shock. Never before had he met a human that knew what a perception filter was, at least not one that had worked in Torchwood but there wasn't a base in Scotland – well as far as he was aware there wasn't, so what was this girl?

"Your right." He said slowly. "There is a perception filter all around the door; I sensed it the last time I was here. I should have seen it." He explained to her, she remembered only too well the last time he had been there.

"Yeh, you really should have. You must feel pretty stupid right about now. Although…" she trailed off. "Now that you're here I could probably find out what's been living in my house for the last ten months huh?"

"No, stay away from that door!" She kept walking towards it. _Of course she doesn't listen, why does anybody listen? _"Do not TOUCH that door!" She put her hand on the handle and turned it. "Listen to me, don't open that-" she opened the door. "Why does no one ever listen to me? Do I have a face that no-one listens to?" He wasn't expecting her to answer but she did.

"Yes quite frankly, you do." She walked into the room and he sighed before searching his pockets.

"My Sonic Screwdriver, where is it? It's a silver thing and blue at the end, where did it go?" He asked still looking around for it.

"There's nothing here." She said from inside the room.

"Whatever it is tried to stop you from seeing the whole room what makes you think it's going to let you see it now? Now please just get out!" He pleaded with her, hoping she would see reason but of course she didn't.

"I was talking about your screwdriver but now I see it. Blue and sliver yeh?" She asked him very suddenly.

"My screwdriver? Yes." Relief swept over him for an instant. "It must have fallen under the door." He hoped that was what had happened.

"Yeh, it must have, and then it must have jumped up and rolled onto the table." He could hear the sarcasm but also the prick of fear that had found it's way into her voice.

"Get out of there." He called to her but she didn't listen. "GET OUT OF THERE!" He tried again but nothing. He tried again and this time he also tried to get out of the ropes but nothing was working then he heard nothing. "What is it? What are you doing?" he asked.

"There's nothing here but…" she trailed off and he prayed it wasn't what he thought it was.

"The corner of your eye." He said quietly but he knew that she could hear him.

"What is it?" There was interest in her voice and the Doctor recognized it. It was the same tone he had heard many times before.

"Don't try to see it; if it knows you've seen it it will kill you."_ Thank you Doctor for telling me that_ she thought. "Don't look at it." He heard her gasp and he hoped she was listening to him. "Do not _look_!" he said one more time. She screamed and he told her to get out one more time and this time she listened. He held out his hand and she gave him his screwdriver and he pointed it at the door pressing the button.

He heard the whirring and the door lock clicked closed. Then he turned it on the ropes and tried but it wasn't working. "Oh, what has the bad alien done to you?" He pressed it again but nothing. _And this was my favorite one too,_ he pouted.

"What has it done to it? What about what it'll do to us? Will that door hold it?" The girl asked worried now. _Sure now she's worried._

"Sure yeh of course. It's an inter-dimensional multi-form from out of space, their all _terrified _of wood."

"Dude, so not the time for you sarcasm." She glared at him but he was still working on the ropes so he didn't see it.

"What's that? What's it doing?" He heard her ask, he looked up from trying to clean the screwdriver of the gunk the alien had put all over it.

"I don't know getting dressed?" He went back to cleaning it. "Run, the police are coming; they'll get you to safety." He said still trying to get it to work.

"Yeh, uhh hate to say this but… there aren't any police coming." He looked up in disbelief.

"I heard you on the phone. You called them."

"It was dead." She said still looking at the door. "I was looking for my charger when I knocked you out."

"So then why were you pretending?" He asked her trying to hide his annoyance with her.

"Strange man breaking and entering into my house. It's normal to call the police isn't it? besides, I needed answers from you and threatening was the easiest way to do it." She told him while at the same time the door fell off its hinges. There in the doorway stood a man and his black dog. "But it's just…"

"No it isn't. Look at the faces." She looked at them and heard the dog growling only…the dog wasn't growling, its mouth was completely still. It was the man's mouth the growls were coming from. The man started barking.

"Ohh that is very clever, but what is it?" She looked down at the Doctor waiting for an answer.

"It's all one creature disguised as two. Clever old multi-form, a bit of a rushed job though. Got the voice a bit muddled did you?" He asked it. Both forms turned their heads to face the Doctor at the exact same time. _God that's freaky,_ she thought. "Mind you where'd you get the pattern from? You would have to have a psychic link. How'd you fix that?" _Is he actually having a conversation with the thing?_ Winter asked herself.

The thing only growled in response before opening his mouth where there were weird freaky sharp teeth. "Stay boy!" The Doctor shouted. "Apparently were safe, you wanna know why? Because she sent for police." He pointed at her and she shook her head.

"I thought we established that I _didn't _send for them." She hissed quietly at the Doctor , never stopping looking at the creature.

"Yeh but he doesn't know that." He said back. Then he turned back to the Multiform. "So, she's got back up and they're coming so you should leave." A voice rang through the house.

**Attention Prisoner Zero, the human residence is surrounded. Attention Prisoner Zero, the human residence is surrounded.**

"What's that?" She asked.

"That would be back up. See? We do have back up and that's defiantly why were safe."

** Prisoner Zero will be contained in the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated.**

"Well safe apart from you know…incineration."

**Prisoner Zero will be contained in the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated.**

The Doctor started hitting the screwdriver on the floor trying to get it to work until it finally worked and he used it on the rope until it broke. "Run!" He got up and ran down the stairs and out the door.

"What's going on?" The girl asked.

"Why would you pretend that you were talking to the police?" He asked her.

"I feel like I'm always repeating myself with you." She answered. "Stranger danger? Answers?" _ Lie, lie, lie. Everything I just said was a lie. _"Now I'd kinda like them right now. What's going on?"

"An alien convict is hiding in your spare room and more aliens are going to show up and incinerate your house! Any questions?" he turned and tried to open the door.

"Do you?" She countered.

"Yes." He tried again but the door wouldn't open. "No, no, no. Don't do that, not now. It's still rebuilding and won't let me in." The warning sounded again and the alien thing barked.

"Come on." She pulled him, but he noticed something.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. There's a shed, I destroyed that shed last time I was here, smashed it to pieces." He ran up to the shed.

"Well, there's a new one. Let's go."

"But the new one got old; it's eight years old at least." _Crap, crap, he's going to figure it out. _He smelled it and tasted it. "Eight years. I'm not ten months late I'm eight years late."

"He's coming." She tried once more to get him away. "You said ten months, why did you say ten moths." He was getting angry now, Winter could tell but she had to try to keep him moving.

"We have to go."

"This is important, why did you say ten months?" He asked her, his voice was louder than she remembered it being but that didn't stop her anger from starting to flow.

"Because you ruined my life!" She screamed, her anger rushing to the surface now and she watched as the realization of who she was flickered into his eyes.

"What?"

"Come on, we have to go."

"What?"

"Come on!" She pulled him; he wasn't going to move otherwise, she knew that and right now they had to go otherwise they would be alien chow. They ran out and up the road towards the village but he stopped running and started walking.

"Your Winter." She huffed and rolled her eyes at him.

"Yeh? And your beyond late buddy." She walked off leaving him there but it wasn't long before he caught up with her.

"Winter Swann, you're the little girl; the _American_ little girl, with _green_ eyes."

"Firstly I was a teenager and secondly you're _late_!" Still walking as fast as she could but to no avail. "And I picked up the accent and got contacts." She lied to him again – but not before reverting back to her American accent.

"You hit me with a cricket bat." _Really, he wants to bring that up?_

"Eight years." There was no way that she was letting that go, she had to go to so many therapists because of him, even when she said that it wasn't real she still had to go.

"A cricket bat." _Good, I hope it hurt the basterd._

"Eight years, two therapists and four psychiatrists." _Let him try and beat that, the idiot._ He looked at her like she was mad. "I kept scratching them." She said quietly.

"Why?" he asked her, _oh he had to ask 'why' didn't he?_

"Because I did." She was still walking though, there wasn't anything he could do to stop her doing that but there was something that could. There in font of them was the warning and it was playing everywhere, phones, I-pods and even from the megaphones in the ice-cream van. Not knowing what was happening Winter turned to look for the Doctor but all she saw was him running into a house so she followed him into the house.

"Let's have a look." Amber saw that Mrs. Newton handed the phone to the Doctor .

"I was just about to phone, it's on every channel." The Doctor took the remote and tried to change the channel.

"Oh hello Amber, who's your friend?" Mrs. Newton had a smile as big as anything you had ever seen as he asked that question.

"Who's Amber, you were Winter." He asked turning away from the job for a second.

"Yeh and now I'm Amber, and besides, how many Winter's do you actually know?"

"Winter Sawn was a great name."

"Just a little too fairy tale for my liking." She bit back and he flinched just a little, remembering the words he had spoken to her eight years ago, for her.

"What and Amber Swann isn't? And where did you even get Amber from anyway?" He asked still not looking her fully in the eyes.

"My first name is Ambrosia, but that was too long so I shortened it." She said still glaring at him, daring him to try and say something that would annoy her once again. He grabbed the radio and sonic-ed, the same thing was going on everywhere.

"Okay, so it's everywhere. In every language, they're broadcasting it to the whole world." He ran to the window, opened it and looked up.

"What's up there, what are you looking for?" He carried on looking up for something but what it was Amber didn't know. He started babbling again but Amber didn't know what he was talking about, all she heard was 20 minuets. "Hello, you keep saying 20 minuets but 20 minuets till what?" Amber asked, she was really starting to get pissed off with him.

"The human residence. They aren't talking about your house; they're talking about the world. Somewhere up there is a spaceship and it wants to incinerate the planet. We have 20 minuets till the end of the world."

**[][][]**

"Where exactly are we?" They had been walking for a couple of minuets in silence and he had suddenly asked her where they were.

"Ashford." She replied.

"Well where's the rest of it?" He asked her. _Really, he's asking this? What have I gotten myself into?_

"This is it."

"Is there an airport?" _What the hell is he talking about?_ She thought. She shook her head in answer.

"A power station?"

"Yeh but it was shut down decades ago."

"Well that's no good is it?" He asked and Amber wondered what he was talking about for the hundredth time in the last ten minuets. She shook her head in answer to the question. "Nearest city? Where's the nearest city?"

"About half an hour away by car. Why do you want to know?"

"We don't have half an hour, do we have a car?"

"Does it _look _like I have a car?" _Really, does he think that if I had a car I would still be here?_

"Well that's good, fantastic that is. We have 20 minuets to save the world and I have a post office," he gestured to the post office behind him but carried on walking, "and it's _shut_. What is that?" he asked walking forward quicker.

"It's a pond without any ducks." _Why would he be interested in ducks? _"But there aren't any ducks so if you want to see one then you should go find the park."

"If there are never any ducks then how do you know it's a duck pond?"

"I didn't say that but is this really that important?" She asked looking at him like he was mad.

"I don't know." All of a sudden he started moving really weirdly and Amber's mind was taken back to all those years ago when he had first come. He had done the same thing back then and he had said it was because he was 'getting the hang of things.' "Why would I know?" He was still moving about weirdly and Amber didn't know what to do to help him but then he clutched his heart. "No, this is too soon. I'm not ready, I'm not done yet."

He looked at her, hoping beyond hope that it wasn't happening now. He had to save the plane, he had to help them but above all…he had to apologize to her. Something went over the sun, making everything go darker.

"What's happening why is it going darker?" Amber asked worriedly. She looked up at the sun only to see that it had turned a blackish green colour and a moment later it went bight gold. "Doctor what's wrong with the sun?" She asked him.

"Nothing. You're looking at it through a force field. They've sealed off your upper atmosphere and now they're getting ready to boil the planet." Amber turned to look at him. The way he said it made it sound like he didn't care at all that this was happening. _But that's wrong. _A voice in her head said._ If he didn't care then he wouldn't have come back, he would have just left everyone to die._

The rumble of people could be heard, Amber knew what was going on. They were whipping out their phones and taking pictures of what was happening, probably thinking this was some government thing and that it would pass quickly enough.

"Oh and here they come. The human race. See the end comes as it was always going to, down a video phone." He wasn't too pleased at that. As much as the Doctor loved the human race, the majority of them were either very easily deceived or stupid.

"This isn't real is it? This is some king of joke?" The panic was making itself known once again and Amber hated it.

"Why would I joke about this?" He asked, he sounded genuinely curious but that didn't mean anything. This man could be one hell of an actor and she wouldn't know the difference but there was still a part of her that was hoping that he was real, that this was all real.

"You told me you had a time machine."

"And you believe me." There was a hint of despair to the voice, like he really wanted her to believe him.

"Well then I grew up," she was really trying to make sense of this. It seemed like it was much less complicated back then, when all you really had to do was believe in an idea for it to be real - and it seemed the Doctor agreed with her on that point.

"Oh you should never do that." She glared at him.

"Well what do you want me to do then huh? Believe that there is a time travelling man with a police box for a time machine or the fact that the world is going to end?" The Doctor looked at her sadly.

"Both. Just believe for one day that this is all real and if - when this is over – you want to forget then you can." She looked at him for a moment and he knew she still didn't believe him. "Catch." She caught it and looked at it. It was the apple that she had given him eight years ago, the same apple that she had carved and told him about her mom. The exact same.

"I am the Doctor , a time traveler. Everything I told you eight years ago is true, I'm real. What happening in the sky is real and if you don't want to help then that's fine but I need to know soon because if I don't then everything you have ever known is over." She looked at him and shook her head.

"No, I don't believe you." She said still shaking her head and it stung the Doctor to hear her say it.

"Just look at the apple. Look at it." she looked at it, "fresh as the day you gave it to me and it's the same one. You know in your heart that it's the same. That this is all real." She looked at it and knew that he wasn't lying, that this was all real and she also knew that there was no turning back now.

"Okay. Alright, I believe you." The Doctor smiled at her but then hit his head with his hand.

"Wait, hold on wait, I've got it!" He slapped himself on the forehead. "And I missed it. What did I see? I saw…what did I see?" He started looking around, at what Amber didn't know but he kept looking around until he turned to face her. "20 minuets, I can do it. 20 minuets, the planet burns. Run to your loved ones and say goodbye or stay and help me." She looked at him for a moment, contemplating what he said. _I said yes already so what does he expect me to say this time?_

"What was it you said before Doctor? 'Don't ask stupid questions.' Well that was an extremely stupid question." She smiled at him warmly for the first time since he had fixed the crack on her wall. "What do we do?"

"Stop that guy." He started running and Amber followed behind him and he ran straight up to Timmy and took his phone, looking at it. "The sun's going out and your taking photos of a old man and his dog. Why?"

"Amber." She had just caught up to them. "Timmy. Hi." She held on to him as she caught her breath.

"Oh, this is Timmy , he's a friend." She introduced him but the Doctor didn't seem to be listening.

"Man and dog, why?" He asked again. _How easily they all get sidetracked._

"Because he can't be there, because he's in a hospital, in a coma." At the last bit, the Doctor was saying the same thing and Timmy was looking at him in surprise while Amber was wondering how he knew that.

"Yeh, exactly." He was nodding now but he still looked shocked at how the man knew this.

"Sorry but, whom are you?"

"Oh umm, this is the Doctor." Amber explained to Timmy. She was now extremely happy that she had faked forgetting about him when she was speaking to the therapists her aunt had gotten for her otherwise everyone in the village would know who the Doctor was and that would be a very embarrassing thing.

"Knew it, multiform you see. Disguises itself as anything but it needs a life feed, a physic link with a living but _dormant _mind." The Doctor poked Timmy s head with a finger and he grunted in disapproval. The multiform started barking, both the man and the dog this time and the Doctor walked up to it, hands in pockets and very coolly started speaking. "Prisoner Zero."

"What?" He heard Timmy asking Amber. "Who's Prisoner Zero?"

"Well let's just say that…there are such things as aliens and leave it that yeh?" Amber responded, she was still watching what was going to happen and she didn't really want to answer the expected questions that Timmy was sure to ask.

Above them, was the spaceship that Amber was sure was here for Prisoner Zero and inside it was a giant blue eye,_ like the one from inside the crack_ she realised, and it was scanning for it's Prisoner. The Doctor had seen it as well and smiled to himself before getting his Sonic Screwdriver out of his pocket.

"See that ship up there is scanning for non-terrestrial technology and _nothing_ is more non terrestrial than a Sonic Screwdriver." He showed the multiform the screwdriver and lifted it into the air and activated it which in turn set off everything around them; light bulbs exploded, car alarms went off, lights flickered generally drawing attention to everything in that area _which was the point_ Amber realized. "I think someone is going to notice, don't you?" He asked the alien. He pointed it towards the phone box and it exploded. Amber and Timmy jumped back in surprise but then they heard a fizzling noise.

They looked to see that the Doctor 's screwdriver had turned black and was smoking and fizzing loudly. "NO, NO, NO, don't _do that_." He shouted picking it up and throwing it back to the floor again._ Why now, come on why now?_ A sound filtered through the air and he looked up. The ship was moving away and it hadn't noticed the disturbance.

"Wait, come back!" He tried to get its attention but it wasn't working. _Oh that's just perfect. _"Come back, Prisoner Zero is here, he's here."

"Doctor ?" He turned around at Amber's alarmed voice. "The drain…it just…vanished. It sort of melted and went down it."

"Well of course it did." She hit him on the shoulder had. "Oww, what was that for?"

"Not all of us are all knowing aliens you know. What do we do now?" The Doctor rubbed his shoulder. _She is strong, that really hurt._ "It's hiding in human form, we need to draw it out…drive it into the open. No TARDIS, no screwdriver, 17 minuets, think. Think." He walked towards the drain where it had melted and looked at it trying to figure out what to do next but it wasn't easy.

The ever so curious _Amber_ was asking him questions and she wouldn't take no for an answer. "Multi-forms can live for millennia, eight years is a pit stop."

"So why is it that lot show up on the very same day you show at the very same minuet?" _Well, she has a right to ask _that_ question._

"They were looking for him but they followed me. They saw me through the crack; they're only late 'cuase I am."

"What's he on about?" Timmy was starting to annoy the Doctor. Though there were few humans that did, there were some that just grated the Doctor's nerves - although he couldn't understand why and honestly, he didn't have the time to wonder why at the moment.

"Nurse boy, give me your phone." He asked the boy but was still looking at Amber waiting for her to ask another question.

"No, what is going on, somebody explain it to me because what just happened…can't happen."

"Amber, explain. Nurse boy, phone now. Gimme." He looked through the phone at the pictures as Amber explained it to him, the cliff notes version at least.

"These pictures are all of the coma patients?" He nodded, "no they're pictures of the multiform. Eight coma's eight disguises for Prisoner Zero." Still looking through the pictures.

"He had a dog though, there's a dog in coma?" _Clever, clever observant girl._

"Well if the patient dreams he's walking a dog then Prisoner Zero gets a dog." _Oh wait there it is. _"Laptop. Your friend, not him, the better looking one."

"Oh, uh Danny." _Nice to know he's better looking than me. _Timmy thought sourly. He was sort of pudgy, he always had been no matter how many diets he had gone through - and to add to that, he was short as well.

"He had a laptop in his bag, big bag, big laptop. I need Danny's laptop. You two, get to the hospital and get everyone out of that ward and phone me when your done." He slapped both their backs and ran back to the house where Danny lived and walked straight into his room. "Hello. Laptop, give me it." Danny tried to protest but the Doctor grabbed it off of him and looked at the screen.

"Blimy, get a girlfriend Danny." The door opened again and in came Danny's father.

"What's going on here?"

"Your sun has gone wibbly so right now, somewhere out there, there's a conference going on. All the scientists in the world panicking and who do they need?" he asked looking up at the man. "Me. Ahh and here they all are, all the big boys, NASA, Tokyo Space Centre, Patrick Moore."

"Oh you can't just hack into a call like that." Danny sounded appalled.

"Just watch me." He managed to get them all up and running only for them to ask that one question everyone asks him. "Yeh hello, I know you should switch me off but before you do watch this." He started typing out what would only convince them more.

"It's here." _Oh there you go, they've got it._

"It's here too, I can see it."

"I'm about to send you proof, and I mean real proof. Never before seen proof. A man got killed in a duel before he could write it down. My fault, I slept in. Oh and here's an oldie but a goodie, why electrons have mass and a personal favourite of mine, faster than light travel with two diagrams and a _joke_.

"Look at your screens; whoever I am I am a genius, look at the sun. You need all the help you can get. Fellers, pay attention." He began explaining what was happening and what they would have to do for this and left them to converse while he got out nurse boy's phone and started typing on it.

"Sir, what are you doing?" one of the boy asked. He carried on typing on it.

"I am writing a computer virus. Very clever very fast and a tiny bit alive but don't let on, and why am I writing it on a phone? Never mind, you'll find out. Send this to all your computers, get everyone who works for you to send this on. E-mail, text, facebook, beibo, twitter, radar dish. What ever you've got. Any questions?"

"What does this virus do?"

"It resets counters. It get's onto the Wi-Fi and resets counters. Clocks, phones, everything and it will default at the exact same time. But yeh, I could be lying. Why should you trust me? I'll let my best man explain." He waited for Danny to start explaining but all he heard was silence. He turned to him. "Danny, best man."

"You what?" he sounded confused and that wasn't good at that moment in time. The Doctor closed the laptop cover slightly before turning to Danny. "Listen to me. In ten minuets, you are going to be famous. In ten minuets, everyone on that screen is going to be offering you any job you want but first you have to be magnificent. You have to make them trust you and get them working. This is it Danny, right here right now. This is when you fly. Today's the day you save the world."

"Sure sure but…why me?"

"It's your bedroom. Now go, go, go." He jumped off the bed and sprinted out the room leaving Danny to start before he had a thought and turned back. "Oh and delete your internet history." He saw Danny nod quickly before he tried to find a way to the hospital where he found a fire truck. "Brilliant." He jumped in and turned the keys in it and started the engine. Going as fast as he could, he made his way to the hospital and around two minuets later the phone rang. "Hello?"

"Doctor were at the hospital but we can't get through." _Oh good, Winter's at the hospital now._

"Great now I need you to use that excellent persuasion you seen to posses." He heard nurse boy saying something to her and then she was back on the phone.

"Are you on your way?" She asked.

"Yes, I just left Danny." He told her smiling to himself.

"You're going to need a car."

"Don't worry, I've commandeered a vehicle." He shut the phone but before he did, Amber heard a siren call and she smiled at what the Doctor had taken. He pressed on the gas peddle to make it go faster but only a few seconds later the phone rang again.

"Are you in?" He asked her.

"Yep. But so is Prisoner Zero." _No, that's not good, that isn't good._

"You need to get out of there now!" there wasn't an answer but the Doctor could hear voices in the background. "Winter, Winter what's happened?" Still nothing. "Winter talk to me!" relief washed through him as he heard her voice. "Were in the coma ward but it's here and it's getting in." _Oh that's is really bad. Come on think, there has to be a way in somehow. Wait. Yes._

"Which window are you?" She didn't hear him properly so he had to ask the question again to which she answered.

"Uh…first floor on the left fourth from the end." That was all she said before there was a crash and the multiform walked through the door with its huge teeth still out in the open. Amber clutched the phone in her hand and looked at it.

"Oh dear little Winter Swann. I've watched you grow up, eight years and you never even knew I was there." It started walking closer to her, slowly with the two girls at her side in step with it. "Little Winter Swann, waiting for her magical Doctor to return. But not this time Winter." It opened its mouth to show the teeth again. _Stall Amber, stall it now._

"There are three things wrong with that sentence," that seemed to catch it's interest because it stopped, closed it's mouth slightly and looked at her. "And what are they?" It asked, teeth still barred. "First of all, I was never 'little'. Secondly my name isn't Winter Swann anymore and thirdly…" she heard the sound of a message being sent and looked at it to see the words 'duck' and smiled at it. "The Doctor is about to make a _very _grand entrance." She pulled herself and Timmy down to the floor just in time for a giant ladder to break through and the Doctor was climbing up it and into the ward.

"Hello you two, am I late? No." He got up and turned to the multiform. "Three minuets to go, there's still time." He said looking at the clock.

"Time for what, Timelord?" It asked looking rather annoyed that the Doctor was there. _What the hell is a Timelord?_ Amber wonders quickly.

"Take the disguise of and they'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies." He shrugged.

"The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire." It said smugly.

"Ha ha, okay. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again. Just leave." _The damn crack. It had to be there didn't it? It had to follow me._ Amber thought when she heard the crack again.

"I did not open the crack."

"Somebody did." It was obvious to everyone that the Doctor was getting fed up with it now.

"The cracks in the end of the universe. Don't you know where they came from." Silence filled the room before it smiled.

"You don't do you?" It mocked, and then it changed its voice to a girl's voice; a high and mocking one. "The Doctor and in the TARDIS doesn't know. Doesn't know, doesn't know." From the corner of her eye Winter saw the Doctor flinch visibly, as if those words pained him to hear. There wasn't time to dwell however, because the clock on the wall changed its numbers and the Doctor 's eyes flickered to it for a second before resting back on the multiform who had changed the voice back to the original one. "The universe is cracked, the Pandorica will open. Silence will fall." The clock changed again and the Doctor smiled.

"And were off. Look at that." He pointed to it. "Look at that. Yeh I know, just a clock whatever but do you know what's happening now? In one little bedroom my team are working, Danny and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world quantum fast. The word is out, and do you know what the word is? The word is Zero." The multiform looked furious now but the Doctor kept going.

"Now me if I was up in the sky in a battleship monitoring all Earth communications, I would probably take that as a hint, and if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the ship I would be able to track a simple little computer virus to it's source in what under a minuet?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone that he had used to make the virus. "The source by the way is right here." A white light filled the room and the Doctor 's smile grew even bigger. "Ohh and I think they just found us."

"The Atraxi are limited. While I am in this form they still won't be able to track me." The smug smile was back as she said this. "They've tracked a phone, not me."

"Yeh but this is the good bit I mead, this is my favourite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of! Well thanks to nurse boy over there, this phone is full of pictures of all your disguises right here and being uploaded right about…now. And the final score is now screwdriver, no TARDIS and two minuets to spare. Who da man?" Nobody said anything, at all. "Oh, never saying that again."

"Then I shall take a new form." It said, still only looking at the Doctor .

"Oh stop it, you know you can't. It takes months to form that kind of physic link." It smiled at him.

"And I've had years." A bright gold light made a hue around it and then the Doctor heard someone drop. He looked behind him to see Amber on the ground.

"No, Winter? You have to hold on. Amber? Don't sleep! You have to stay awake please!"

"Doctor?" He looked up to see the form the multiform had taken on and it was…someone. He sat up and looked at it trying to work out who it was meant to be.

"Well that's rubbish, who's that meant to be?" The shaggy hair was in his face and the tattered clothes reminded him of his previous regeneration - minus the tatters.

"It's you." He looked down at himself.

"Is that what I look like?" he asked the nurse boy.

"You don't know?" _Well obviously not._

"Busy day, haven't had time to look in the mirror." He got up and walked toward it. "Why me though? Your link is with her. Why are you copying me?" He asked it.

"I'm not." A voice that sounded very familiar._ Oh, it's Winter, the teenage one. The one I left this morning._ The teenage Winter stepped out behind the copy of the Doctor and looked at him. "Poor Winter Swann, still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return to save her." It looked him up and down for a second. "What a disappointment you've been."

"No she's dreaming about me because she can hear me." He turned and ran back towards Amber and kneeled next to her. "Winter, don't just hear me listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see. Remember you went inside and I tried to stop you but you did. You went in the room, you went inside. Winter, dream about what it was you saw." He prayed she was listening to him.

"No, no, NO!" the golden hue wrapped around it again and it changed from the two figures back into its true self.

"That's my girl." He said proudly before turning back to the multiform. "Well done Prisoner Zero. The perfect impersonation of yourself." A white light surrounded it and it started thrashing around.

**Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained.**

The multiform looked at the Doctor and spoke one last time. "Silence Doctor. Silence will fall." The whirring of a space ship could be heard and then a gush of wind surrounded them signalling the take off. The Doctor ran to the window and looked out and started typing in numbers.

"The sun…it's back to normal right." He didn't say anything only kept typing, "that's good right? It means it's over." The Doctor walked past him and patted his head. Timmy felt something stirring under him and looked down to see Amber waking up. "Winter, are you okay? Are you with us?"

"What happened?" She groaned she got up.

"He did it, the Doctor did it."

"No I didn't." He said from where he was standing.

"What are you doing?" Timmy asked him; he had been on that phone typing for ages.

"Tracking the signal. Sorry in advance by the way."

"For what?" _What could he be sorry for?_

"For the bill." _Oh no he doesn't. _Timmy was about to protest when the Doctor started talking. "Oi I didn't say you could go." He shouted into the phone. "Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation. _This _is a fully established level 5 planet, and you were going to burn it what? Did you think no one was watching? You lot back here _now_." He disconnected the call and chucked it back to Timmy who caught it. "Okay, now I've done it."

"Umm did he just bring them back? Did he _just _save the world from aliens and thenbring them _back_?" He heard Timmy ask. The Doctor walked through the building heading towards the roof. "Where are you going?" He heard Amber ask him.

"The roof." _Well actually… _"No, wait." He swerved off into a room and the other's saw that it was a changing room. The Doctor started taking different bits of clothes of the hooks and keeping them.

"What's in here?" Amber asked. _Why are we in here?_

"I'm saving the world. I need a decent shirt." He was still looking through the clothes in there and picking the ones he wanted. "To hell with the raggedy, time to put on a show."

"You just summoned aliens back to earth, deadly killing aliens and now…you're taking your clothes off. Amber he's taking his clothes off." He said sounding very embarrassed.

"Well turn your back if it embarrasses you." The Doctor said smiling to himself.

"Those clothes belong to people, you can't just take them. What are they going tp wear?" The Doctor didn't say anything, only keep changing so Timmy sighed and turned around. When he looked at Amber he saw that she hadn't turned around and seemed to be watching the Doctor . "Aren't you going to turn around?" He whispered to her. She grinned and without taking her eyes off the Doctor replied with a simple:

"Nope." _For a man that just regenerated a few hours ago his has a _very_ good looking body._ She thought to herself. He finished changing but still had a whole lot of ties around his neck as they made their way back to the roof. When they got to it Amber saw the huge spaceship hovering above them.

"So this was a good idea then was it? You do realise that they were leaving right?"

"Leaving is good but never coming back is better." He replied. "Come on then. The Doctor will see you now." The giant eye that Amber had seen in her bedroom wall zoomed towards the Doctor and started scanning him.

"You are not of this world." It concluded.

"No, but I've put a lot of work into it." He started looking at the ties humming to him self. "I don't know, what do you think?" He asked it still looking at the ties.

"**Is this world important?**" It asked him.

"_Important?_ What does that mean important? Six billion people live here, is that important? But here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?" He chucked a tie that he didn't like behind him and Amber caught it and gave it to Timmy . "Well come on, your monitoring the whole planet, _is this world a threat?_" Flashes of pictures hovered in the air as the Atraxi monitored the planet looking for any possible threat's to it.

"**No.**" Was it's simple answer as it finished searching.

"Are the people of this world breeching any kind of laws of the Atraxi?" The Doctor asked it looking and then throwing another tie back. Again it searched the whole planet and pictures flashed in the circle like frame.

**"No."** Was the answer again.

"Okay, one more. Just one more question: is this world protected?" Images of a robot of some kind, creatures, aliens of all shapes and sizes flashed on the screen. "Cause you're not the first lot to come here, oh there have been so many. But what you've got to ask is, what happened to them?"

Images of men came up, loads of different people and then the Doctor walked through it. "Hello, I'm the Doctor . Basically. Run." The eye shot back into its slot and the spaceship took off quicker than you could say Timelord.

_That is so cool, but how don't I see any of what's happened before? _Amber wondered. Unknowingly she smiled at the Doctor , amazed at what she had seen and it was that smile that Timmy saw. _She likes him._ He thought sadly to himself. "Is that it? Are they gone for good?" She asked him but no one answered. She turned around and saw nothing there.

There was no one standing there. "Please Timmy, please tell me that you just saw what happened. Please tell me I'm not going crazy." She turned to him and looked at him and he nodded.

"Yeh, I saw that." She sighed a breath of relief but she was instantly filled with dread again. _That means that he's gone again. No please don't let him be gone._ She ran to the car as fast as she could and drove as fast as she could back to the house. She ran to the garden just in time to see the blue box disappearing with that whirring noise once again and her smile faltered. She closed her eyes and felt a small tear fall down her cheek. _Not again, not again._

**[][][]**

The sound, the sound that she had dreamt of for ever seemed to be coming from the back garden. Her eyes snapped open and she walked to the window not daring to hope. She peeked out the window and looked. Sure enough there was the little blue box that had been in her dreams since she was thirteen only this time she knew it wasn't a dream. She ran down the stairs and into the back garden where it stood, tall and proud and there _he_ was, locking the door.

"Sorry about running off earlier. Brand new TARDIS, bit excited. Just had a quick hp to the moon and back to break her in. she's ready for the big stuff now." He patted the box fondly and looked at her.

"So, you came back?" She asked him.

"Yeh I came back, I always come back." He said fondly.

"And you kept the clothes?"

"Yeh I just saved the planet for about the millionth time and I kept the clothes, so shoot me."

"Including the bow tie?" _Why would he keep the stupid tie?_

"Yeh, bow ties are cool." He said fiddling with it. She couldn't help it, she giggled at that, _no, don't giggle, your mad at him remember._

"Are you from another planet?" She asked him sarcastically.

"Yeh." He said simply. "So what do you think?" He asked, he seemed like he really wanted to know but there was something she wanted to do first.

"About what?" she asked him.

"Other planets want to check some out?" _What? Does he really think that I'll just go with him, it's been four years._

"What does that mean?" She asked him. He needed to be very clear if he wanted her to go with him. "It means, well it means…come with me."

"Where?"

"Wherever you like."

"All that stuff in the hospital, the prison ships, Prisoner Zero?"

"Oh don't worry, that's just the beginning."

"But...how can I trust you Doctor?" She wrapped her arms around her waist and looked at the floor.

"What?" The Doctor could practically feel his hearts breaking at what she had just said. Winter had always trusted him; never, ever had she not and he had always trusted her.

"t's been four years Doctor! Four years. How can I go with you when you can just…forget about me like that?"

"No, Winter, no. I could never forget about you." She looked up at him, there were the beginnings of tears in her eyes and it took so much of the Doctor's will to not wipe them away. "It was a mistake. I never meant for it to be so long." He rubbed his arm in despair and prayed to the stars that she would forgive him. Amber looked at the Doctor.

She looked at him more intently that she had of anyone ever before. She could see the reason she had trusted him four years ago, and the reason she had trusted him when she was twelve. It was that desire to tell him everything and know that he would never tell anyone. Even after she had said those words to him, Amber knew she trusted him. It was like something was drawing them together, and she had always believed in fate.

So as she re-thought what she had said, she decided to give him a chance. "You know for a time traveller, you are lousy at keeping it." She said softly. The Doctor looked up at her in partly hope.

"So that's?"

"I waited for you for 12 years you know?" It wasn't an angry tone; she was just stating a fact.

"12 years, 12 years since fish custard. Winter Swann, the girl who waited. You've waited long enough." She looked at the box, nervous now.

"When I was younger you said that there was a swimming pool, and a library and the library was _in_ the swimming pool."

"Yep. Not sure where it's got to now but it will turn up. So…will you come?" He was careful not to let too much hope in his voice. He wanted her to come with him so badly. It had been years since he had last seen her.

"I…I don't…"

"You wanted to come 12 years ago." He reminded her.

"And then I grew up."

"Ohh, you should never do that, but don't worry, I'll fix that." He snapped his fingers and the door to the TARDIS opened. She looked at him and he smiled, then she looked back and into it and laughed before stepping inside and looking around. The Doctor walked up to her and smiled hugely. "Well, anything you would like to say? Any passing remarks? I've heard them all." He walked further into it and fiddled with the controls.

Amber saw what he was doing and walked up to him and remembered what she had wanted to tell him before. "You know…I don't think it should sound like that." He looked up shocked at what she had just said.

"Well I haven't heard that one before, what isn't?" He asked her.

"Well, you know when you're taking off and it makes that whirring noise?" She paused before continuing. "I don't think it should make that noise."

"And how would you know?" He asked her.

"I am a mechanic remember, and I think it sounds like when you've left the brake on a car."

"The TARDIS is _not _a_ car!_" He looked slightly insulted. "I'm just saying, that's how it sounds." She raised her hands up in surrender.

"Fine, whatever but what's the answer. Will you come with me?" He asked once again. Amber looked around the TARDIS again. _What the hell, I've waited this long so why not go._

"Before I answer, why me?"

"Because you're the American girl in a Scottish village. You've lived here most of you're life and still choose not to get rid of that accent so why not go?" _He has a point there, and It's not like I have to be anywhere so why not. _ With a grin she looked at him and answered.

"Hell yeh." The Doctor grinned at her.

"So all of time and space, everything that has ever happened or ever will. Where do you want to start?" He asked her. She turned to him about to answer when something clicked and he looked at it. "Oh, a new one." he said raising what looked like a Sonic Screwdriver to Amber. "Lovely." He whispered something but Amber didn't hear and then she remembered something.

"I'm still in my PJ's." She said looking down at her top and trousers.

"Oh don't worry, plenty of clothes in the wardrobe, maybe even a swimming pool." _God I hope not. _"So where do you want to go?" He asked again.

"Surprise me." He looked at her before typing in something.

"I'm going to like you Winter Swann; I'm going to like you indeed."

"My name isn't Winter anymore." She told him.

"It is to me." And then with that weird whirring sound, they were off. Off to a world somewhere in the whole galaxy and Amber couldn't wait until she saw it. She didn't even care about her new name because honestly, she secretly liked it.

* * *

**OK so a new Doctor Who story, my first actually so what do you think? I warn you now, some of the things are going to be changed drastically, some arent but this is FanFiction, were allowed to do that and anyone who dosent like change...well they can go and watch the sereis.**

**Anyway, this first chapter is in a whole but the rest - excluding two parters and original chaptes - will be parted into two sections unless i feel generous. **

**And if it takes a while to update then remember, the episodes are 45 minutes long. That is a hell of a lot of writing to do and i have other stories and i need to study for GCSE's so bear with me on that okay?**


	2. Chapter 2 part 1

The Beast Below

* * *

_My name is Amber Swann. When I was 13 they told me I had an imaginary friend who wasn't real but last night my' imaginary friend' came back._

Amber Swan was floating in space. She was _floating in space, _and all that was stopping her from floating away was the Doctor's hand on her ankle.

It was amazing, absolutely amazing. There were stars, constellations everywhere.

"Come on then Swann." She felt him tugging at her leg. "Down you come." Then Amber found herself back in the TARDIS. "Now do you believe me?" He asked her.

"Okay, okay fine you have a time machine. I guess I didn't totally believe you until you showed me that. I thought you were a mad man with a box." He turned towards her and looked her I the eyes.

"Winter Swann, there is one thing that you should remember, one thing that you should never forget. It may even save your life one day." She looked at him expectantly, "I most certainly am a madman with a box." She grinned at him before looking around again.

"Oh my god, your box is a spaceship, it really is one which means that were in space! Woohoo!" She shouted as they floated around. She laughed and then took a deep breath to calm her self down._ A deep breathe of what though?_ The question popped into her head and she asked him.

"I've extended the air shell were fine. Now _that's_ interesting." He said looking down at the giant thing. "29th Centaury, solar flares roasting the earth and the entire human race packs it's bags and moves out-" that was all Amber heard though because it seemed that her pj bottoms had caught onto something and when she tried to get the loose, she slipped and flew right out of the TARDIS only managing to hold on to the edge in time.

"Doctor?" The man kept talking about something or another so she tried again, "Doctor!" She shouted for him louder this time but he still didn't hear her. _Well third time's the charm, _and tried one last time: "DOCTOR!" This time he heard her and ran to the door. "Took you long enough." She exclaimed still holding onto the edge.

"How did you get there?" He asked her.

She sighed and mumbled. "I tripped."

"You tripped. Well come on, I've found us a spaceship." He said grinning at her. He pulled her back in and closed the doors tightly before leading her over to the small circular screen that was showing a video of the buildings under them. "This is the United Kingdom of Briton and Ireland, all of it bolted together and floating in the sky. Starship UK, its Briton, but metal." Amber gasped at what she was seeing, this was 900 years into the future and this was what Briton looked like. _Well, that is awesome then._

"That's not just a ship that's, an idea, a whole country living and laughing and…shopping," Amber giggled at that but she knew that he was proud. Proud of the race that had made this possible and so was she. "Searching the stars for a new home."

"Can we go out and see?" she asked as soon as he was finished.

"Of course we can but first there's a thing." He walked towards the controls.

"A thing?" She asked trying to catch him up.

"Yes, an important thing. In fact, thing one." he held a magnifying glass up to his face, "we are observers only. That is the one rule I've always stuck to in all my travels, I never get involved of the affairs of other people's or planets', ooh, that's interesting." _But you did for me Doctor. Where was that rule then? _She wondered.

"So were supposed to be heartless and…cold if there something happening and we cant stop it?" She asked watching the screen and then an image of the Doctor was on it and he was trying to comfort the child but she ran away. "Doctor?" She gasped shocked at what she was seeing.

The image turned to her and beckoned her to come outside. She grinned and ran to the door and opened it only to find that they were on the ground. A voice was heard above her and she looked around. "I am in the future, like hundreds of years in the future." A thought crossed her mind and her smile lowered. "Oh…I've been dead for centuries."

"Oh lovely, you're a cheery one." The Doctor said stepping closer to Amber. "Never mind being dead, look at this place, isn't it wrong?" He asked moving her forward and around the spaceship.

"Well I suppose something does feel sort of…out of place." She told him looking around slightly. "But I don't know what it is."

"Come one, use your eyes, and notice everything. What's wrong with this picture?" Something about it was wrong; she couldn't put her finger on it. _This place is a space ship so it stands to reason that there is an engine and that engine should make a noise or a vibration or something._ She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at the Doctor.

"You said that this spaceship has been cruising through the stars searching for a new home right?" The Doctor nodded and Amber moved around looking at everything all at once. In the corner of her eye she saw a couple, drinking water and on the table, the water wasn't moving. At all.

_Well that doesn't mean anything. It's the future after all, they could have something to stop the vibrations. _ "Hold on a second yeh." She walked over to the couple. "Hi, um I know that this is a strange request but could I look at your glass of water? It's just were doing some tests on it." The woman nodded and she handed Amber the water. "Thanks."

She placed the water on the floor and looked at it for a couple of seconds. Sure enough there were no vibrations in the water, not even a ripple in it but still… she handed the water back to the woman and thanked her again before walking back to the Doctor.

"Well, what did you find out?" He asked looking at Amber.

"There aren't any vibrations in the water. It's a spaceship so there should be vibrations somewhere right? Even if it's small ones but there aren't any at all. Is that normal?" The Doctor looked at her and smiled proudly, it had taken him a little while to figure that out and Winter managed to figure it out in less than 3 minuets. _This girl is amazing_, he thought to himself.

"No, but life on a spaceship, you go back to basics. Washing lines, bicycles, wind up street lamps but, look closer. Secrets in shadows, lives lead in fear, society bent out of shape on the brink of collapse; a police state."

"But what does that mean police state?" Amber turned to the Doctor and asked.

"It means that." The Doctor pointed to the same girl they had seen crying on the monitor in the TARDIS and Amber looked at her and frowned.

"Why isn't anyone helping her?" She asked a little disgusted at the thought. The Doctor walked up closer to the girl and Amber followed and sat down on a bench next to the Doctor.

"She's crying silently. Children cry because they want attention or they're hurt or afraid but when they're crying silently it's because they can't stop." The Doctor explained looking at her. "Any parent knows that."

"Are you a parent?" Amber asked raising an eyebrow. The Doctor stared at her not saying anything.

"Hundreds of parents walking about and not one of them stopping to ask her what's wrong which means, they already know and it's something they're not talking about, secrets. They're not helping her so it's _something_ they're afraid of. Shadows, whatever they're afraid of it's nowhere to be seen which _means _it's everywhere."

"Police state." Amber whispered finally catching on to what it was. She looked at the Doctor understanding in her eyes but when she looked back, the girl was nowhere to be seen. "Where'd she go?" she looked around trying to find her but she wasn't there.

"Dextrose 7, apple sesame block building 45 A. You're looking for Mandy Tanner. Ooh this fell out of her pocket when I accidentally bumped into her, it took me four goes." _God that man is crazy, he bumped into her on purpose 4 times!_ "Ask her about those things in the booths, the smiling fellers' there everywhere." He motioned to them and when Amber looked she saw that there were at least six in that area.

"But there just things. Creepy things defiantly but still just things." Amber pointed out.

"They're clean." He said as if it explained everything; Amber looked at him urging him to continue. "Everything else here is broken or filthy look at this place, but they haven't left a finger on those booths, and not a footprint within two feet of them look. Ask Mandy: 'why are people scared of the things in the booths?'"

"No hang on a moment, what do I say to her and if you haven't noticed, I'm still in my pajamas." She whisper shouted.

"It's this or Ashford. Which one will Winter Swann choose?" He looked at her, legs folded arms leaning on the bench and she glared at him. _Ohh, that is so not playing fair. _She glared for a bit longer but then huffed and looked away. "Haha, got you." He poked her then looked at his watch, "meet you back here in half an hour."

"What are you going to do?" At the end she said it in a weird accent but she asked, still not looking at him.

"What I always do," he copied the accent and got up.

"Stay out of trouble." He turned towards the things and almost started walking but then turned back and added an afterthought. "Badly." She turned to look at him and nodded and he jumped up and over the bench they had been sitting on. Amber got up and turned to look at his retreating form.

"So is this how it works doc? You never interfere in planet affairs unless there are children involved?" He looked at her for a moment before answering.

"Yes, and don't call me doc." He walked off and she laughed before walking in the direction Mandy had gone in. she walked up to where many was supposed to be going and walked up to the door number.

"You're following me." Amber jumped and turned around to see Mandy leaning on some barrels. "I saw you watching me in the market place." Amber nodded and looked at her hand, remembering what she was holding.

"You dropped this," she handed the card back to Mandy and she grabbed it.

"Yeh, when your friend kept barging into me." She walked off and Amber followed.

"Yeh sorry about him, he isn't the most normal man in the planet." _In the galaxy,_ she thought to herself. When she caught up to Mandy there was a huge tent and barriers around it. "What's this?" She asked looking at Mandy.

"There's a hole, we have to go back."

"A hole?" _Interesting. What could be in the whole, in the country where people are scared of shadows?_ Amber walked forward and Mandy started disagreeing saying that there was another place they could get across. Amber noticed that there was a lock on the tent and she took it onto her hands.

"What are you doing?" Mandy asked. There was worry and fear in her voice now.

"Oh don't mind me, I never could resist a keep out sign." She smiled to herself. "What's through there that has everyone so worried? It's just a hole."

"Nobody knows, we…we aren't supposed to talk about…it."

"About what?" Amber asked turning to Mandy. She was looking down at the ground and didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"We aren't meant to talk about the below." _There we go, something to go on._ Amber thought.

"So what? Just because you're not allowed to talk about it you don't? where I come from if there's something your not meant to talk about it's like a great big flashing neon go ahead to talk about it." Amber took out a pin from her hair and stuck it in the lock, fiddling about with it until she heard the tell tale click sign of the lock opening.

"Where you come from? Are you American?" Mandy asked, interest spiking her voice.

"Yep. When did they leave for the stars?" She asked still looking at the tent wondering what was going to be in there.

"Oh they were the first to leave." Mandy said. Amber smiled to herself and nodded.

"Yep, figures they would be. Some things just never change." She said mostly to herself but Mandy heard. She wondered what she meant by that. Everyone knew it was America that was first to leave but when she had asked it seemed that she had no idea about it.

"So how did you get here then?" She asked.

"Oh just passing through, seeing the sights, meeting up with friends. You know that sort of thing."

"What about that guy, the one who kept bumping into to me. Is he your boyfriend?" Amber stopped for a moment and turned back to look at Mandy.

"Him? Oh no, nu ah, were just friends. He helped get me out of somewhere and I guess I've just been travelling ever since. It's fun though." She turned back to the tent wondering what was in it again when something crossed her mind. "Oh Mandy you've been keeping me occupied so I don't go through there. You're very clever but I'm still going. You coming with me?" She asked.

The look of horror on Mandy's face spoke volumes and Amber didn't need to hear the 'no' she screamed to know that Mandy wasn't going to follow her. "Alright then." She crawled through the entrance and was met with smoke and steam everywhere. She coughed a little and then carried on going forward and was then met with a very bit hole.

She looked closer and there seemed to be something sticking out of it. Looking around, Amber saw a torch and picked it up fiddling with the timer.

When the light turned on she pointed it at the thing and what she saw thoroughly freaked her out; there poking out the whole was a long, scaly, slimy brown thing that was just there and not moving._ Something tells me that that isn't keeping the tent up_ Amber thought. Just as she moved the light up and down it to get a closer look, it moved and she got a closer look.

"That's really weird." Was all she had time to say before it attacked her. It lunged at her two or three times before she could manage to get out and on the last time, the stinger thing almost got her. She made her way out as fast as she could and breathed a sigh of relief.

That was of course until she saw the men in black hooded jackets looking at her. _Oh that can not be good._ One of the men raised their fist and the last thing Amber saw was his ring open and let out an odd smelling gas effectively knocking Amber out.

**[][][]**

Meanwhile the Doctor was climbing down ladders that lead into the engine control. He looked around and found the boxes that were _supposed _to house wires that hooked up to the engine. He walked up to the walls and felt them, they felt hollow. Pressing his ear against it only confirmed that theory. "No, it can't be."

He took a reading using his screwdriver and looked at it. Sure enough it proved it. There was no engine. Then he heard something, something somewhere and he looked around but there wasn't anyone there, then his gaze found its way to the floor and there was a glass of water there._ How did you get here?_ He wondered.

He crouched down onto the floor and looked at it and once again there was no vibrations in the water._ Surly there should be something here, I'm too close to the engine room for there not to be._ The clicking of heels made him look up and right in front of him was a woman in a red cloak.

"The impossible truth made possible in a glass of water." She whispered, "Not many people see it." The Doctor jumped up and circled her. "But you do don't you Doctor?"

"You know me." It wasn't a question and he didn't really expect an answer.

"Keep your voice down." She urged him. "They're everywhere. Tell me what you see in the water." She ordered.

"Who says I see anything." He countered walking up to her. He didn't like this but there was nothing else he could do.

"Don't waist time. In the market place, your companion placed a glass of water on the floor and then you come here and look at the water. Why?" She asked him tilting her head slightly.

"No engine vibration on the deck. Ship this size, engine this big you'd feel it. The water would move so I thought I'd take a look." He turned back and went to look in the panels. "It doesn't make sense." He said opening them all and looking in them. "These power cords, they aren't even connected. Look, look, they're dummies see?"

He ran to the other side and opened them all and looked in them too. It was the same thing, they weren't connected at all. The Doctor started knocking on the wall, beating out a pattern. "Behind these walls are hollow. If I didn't know any better I'd say this ship has-"

"No engine." She cut him off. He stopped and turned to her walking up to her.

"But it's working, it's flying through space I saw it."

"The impossible truth Doctor; were travelling through space in a spaceship that can never fly."

"How?" He asked immediately. She had confirmed his suspicion but now what? _How is it flying then? How does it work?_

"I don't know. There's darkness at the heart of this nation. It threatens every one of us. Help us Doctor, you're our only hope." She pleaded with him. "Your friend is safe; this will take you to her." She handed him a device. "Now quickly, go." She turned and walked off.

The Doctor looked at the device. "Who are you? How will I find you?" She stopped and turned to him.

"I am Liz 10, and I will find you." The lights flickered and the Doctor looked around trying to find its cause but when they stopped flickering and he looked back, she was gone.

**[][][]**

Amber woke up to unfamiliar surroundings, blurry things and on top of that, her head was pounding and those creepy smiling things were in here. _God, they look like clowns on crack._ She thought to herself shivering.

"Welcome to voting cubicle C33. Please leave it as you would wish to find it." A voice sounded through the room and Amber jumped off the chair she had been sitting on in shock.

"Yeh? Well how do I just leave it?" She asked to no one in particular. She looked around trying to find an escape route but as far as she could tell there was nothing.

"We recognise your right to vote and a presentation will be show soon. You are now being identified." It said again. Amber sat in the chair again waiting for it to be over. _Huh, I wonder what will happen and if they can find me on their database._ A beeping noise sounded and Amber looked at the screen.

Results  
Name: Ambrosia Winter Swann  
Age: 1304  
Marital Status: Bonded

_Okay that is entirely both cool and a little disturbing. But what's up with the marital status, I mean I don't even have a boyfriend._ Amber didn't have time to wonder long though because a video shot up on the screen with an old man talking.

"You are here, because you want to know the truth about this Starship and I am talking to you because you are entitled to know. When this presentation is finished, you may either protest, or forget. If you choose to protest understand this: if just 1% of the population protest then the program will be discontinued with consequences to you all.

"If you choose otherwise – and we hope that you will – then press the forget button and what your about to see will be forgotten. You will continue to live in the safety that we give you unburdened with this knowledge. Of the price that has been paid for the safety of the British people. May god have mercy on out souls." Flashing images shot through her head, ones of pain, horror and misery and Amber couldn't stand it, she couldn't stand what she was seeing.

All the pain that these people had to go through so she pressed it, she pressed the forget button and seconds later all the images she had just seen were washed from her mind.

Confused at what had just happened Amber looked around the room and sniffed, there was something on her eye so she lifted her hand and wiped away tears. _Why was I crying? _She wondered. She looked around again and noticed the screen flashing indicating there was a video that needed to be played. Amber pressed the play button and to her surprise she came on the screen.

"_This is not a trick, this is for real. You have to find the Doctor and get him off this ship. Don't let him investigate! Stop him, do whatever you have to but just please, please get the Doctor of this ship!"_ Amber heard the door slide open but she was still looking at the screen.

And then suddenly she remembered again; all the images flashing, the pain of the people and the terrible secret that they had kept so cleverly from everyone on this entire spaceship. Amber couldn't stop the tears from flowing freely and it was all she could do to not slam her hand down onto the 'forget' button again. There was no use in doing it anyway. It wouldn't work.

"Winter?" The Doctor asked. _Oh that isn't good, he can't know._ Amber pressed the stop button and turned to the Doctor. "What have you done?" He asked.

"Doctor, we need to go now." She told him but the Doctor looked her over, checking to make sure she was okay and then took out his sonic and raised it to the light above them.

"It's your basic memory wipe, took the last 20 minuets of your memory." He said after checking.

"Fine whatever but we should go. No we need to go Doctor!" He looked at her. Winter was hiding something and he needed to find out what it was. He trusted her, fully and completely and how could he not? But that wasn't the problem.

The Winter he knew would never not tell him something unless… "Were you threatened Winter?" It was a serious question and her elbows folded to cross her arms and glare at him.

"No. And what would it matter if I was? I know how to handle myself."

_I know you do but…_ "Then why do we have to leave?" He asked again but Amber couldn't think of anything that would stop him. "Or better question, why would you choose to forget?" He asked her.

"Because everyone does." Mandy said, Amber hadn't even noticed her standing there. "Everyone chooses the 'forget' button." The Doctor walked up to her and went down to her level.

"Did you?"

"I'm not eligible to vote yet, I'm twelve. Any time after you're sixteen you're aloud to see the film and make your choice," she shrugged as she explained it to them. "And then you can choose again once every five years."

"And once every five years everyone chooses to forget what they've learnt?" She nodded.

"Democracy in action."

"How do you not need this? Are you American too?" Mandy asked the Doctor.

"Oh no I'm way worse than American, I can't even see the movie. It won't play for me." Amber frowned at what he said.

"What not at all? But you look human and it played for me." Amber stopped abruptly. She hadn't meant to say that, she hadn't meant to at all but when she looked at the Doctor to see if he had noticed, he seemed to be doing something else and so she sighed in relief.

"Well the difference being the computer doesn't accept me as human and no, you look time lord. We were here first." He went back to fiddling with the computer.

"So there are other Timelords then?" She asked curiously.

"No. There were but there aren't…just me now." He took a deep breath and looked away. "Long story, it was a bad day, bad stuff happened and you know what? I would love to forget it all but I can't, not ever but this is what I do. Every time, every day, every second, this." He rubbed his hands together and looked at her. "Hold tight, were bringing down the government." He slammed down on the protest button and Amber heard the door slam closed and the Smiling thing's head turned round and in its place was a horrible, evil looking place and the Doctor pulled her back into the corner and the floor opened up. "Say Wheeeeeee!"

_Is he flipping mental?_ "AHHHHHH!" Amber screamed as they flew down the chute. Amber saw the Doctor disappear and seconds later she found herself in something that smelled and looked like a rubbish dump.

The floor beneath her was slimy and squishy and wet and it took a couple of seconds for her to find her balance and get up. "Where are we?" She asked as she tried to get up, but all she heard was something that sounded very similar to Lancashire.

"So what's this then, a cave? Cant be a cave."

"It's a rubbish dump," she said as she finally stood up only to fall down again. "And it stinks." She tried again and this time managed to stay up.

"Yes but only food refuse, organic coming from feeding tubes from all over the ship. But feeding what though?" He wondered out loud. Amber was talking to herself but he wasn't paying attention to her, there was something at the back of his mind, nagging at him but he didn't know what it was.

Then a noise that sounded like something grumbling echoed through and the Doctor stood up, everything clicking into place. "Uhh it's not a floor, it's uhh…" He trailed off and Amber stood up and walked over to him.

"What is it then?" She asked.

"Uhh, you may want to prepare yourself for this next word because it's the scary word. Say ommm." She did and he held onto her arms. "It's a tongue." He said.

"A what!" She screeched.

"A tongue." He grinned at her and she looked almost ready to slap him. "A great big tongue."

"This is a mouth?" She asked quietly. He grinned at her. "Were in a mouth. This whole place is a mouth!" She shouted at him.

"Yes, yes, yes but on the plus side roomy." Amber was so close to slapping him now.

"But how do we get out?" she asked. _This is great, I'm going to die as something's lunch!_

"How big is this beastie? It's gorgeous. If this is the mouth I'd love to see the stomach." Another noise rumbled through and the Doctor stopped walking around. "Though not like that." _Okay think, if this is the mouth and it's about to swallow there has to be a way out._ He thought.

"Doctor how do we get out?" Amber asked catching up to him.

"It's being fed by surgical implanted tubes meaning the normal exit is…closed for business." He said as the faces the teeth.

"Well we have to try! There are gaps in the teeth." The mouth started trembling beneath them and the Doctor started saying words that she didn't know. "How do we get out!" She screeched.

"Think about it." The Doctor said. _Oh no, he doesn't mean that does he? Please don't mean that._ Amber stopped walking around and faced the things throat. "This isn't going to be big on dignity."

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**Okay, so I don't know what the font will be like becasue something is happening with Fanfction so...I hope it turned out okay.**

**Anyway, like i said, it will be in two parts. So here is part 1.**

**Oh and by the way, thank you for everyone who has favourited me:Dolcifool and Hp-ss4eva and Avloth. It's really appreciated, especially with a new story.**


	3. Chapter 2 part 2

**Here's the second part. And I would like to thank for the review and to BethanyK, Shichibi10, Wholock Whatgirl, angelloverkk, Cstephens91, and stateofadaydream723 for following me and Avloth, DolciFool and hp-ss4eva for favouriting me. Also to everyone who has read my story. **

**You're support is great.**

* * *

Amber took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she felt the beat's sick wash over her and pull her along with it out of its mouth, or at least she thought it was the mouth, she didn't really know what it was all she knew was that she was on the floor. "There's nothing broken, no concussion and yes, you are covered in sick." The Doctor said.

"I really didn't need to know that." She spluttered while getting up. "Where are we?" She asked.

"Overspill pipe." He answered still looking at whatever it was he was looking at.

"God it stinks." The smell was filling her nostrils and it was everywhere. There wasn't anywhere she could turn.

"Oh that isn't the pipes." The Doctor said happily. _I swear I am this close to slapping him again._ Amber thought to herself.

"Is there any way we can get out?" She asked him.

"One door, one door switch; we forget everything we know. Look familiar?" He asked and sure enough, when Amber looked at it she recognised it from the voting booth. "There's a creature living at the heart of this ship, what's it doing there?" He asked the smiling things as he walked up to them.

They turned their head and their faces looked angry. "No that's not going to work on me so come on, a big old beast below the decks and everyone that protests get's shoved down it's throat. Is that how it works?" The heads turned again, this time it was the face that they had seen in the booth. "Stop it, I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting and what are you fellers gonna do about it? Stick out your tongues?" This time the door slid open and the things got up and started walking to them.

"Oh you just had to ask didn't you?" Amber asked annoyed at him. They backed away and then the Doctor saw Liz 10 come forward and started to shoot them.

"Look who it is. You look a lot better without your mask on." The Woman smiled and walked towards Amber and held out her hand. "You must be Amber, lovely name. Liz, Liz 10." Amber shook her hand and then Liz wiped it on her cloak. "Love the hair, shame about the sick." She walked towards the door. "You know Mandy yeh? She's very brave." She put her arm around Mandy and smiled.

"How did you find us?" The Doctor asked.

"Stuck my gizmo on you." She said chucking the tracking devise at the Doctor. "Been listening in. nice moves on the hurl escape. So what's the big feller doing here?" She asked.

"You're over sixteen, you've voted. Whatever this is you've chosen to forget about it."

"No," she shook her head. "Never forgot, never voted. Not technically a British subject." She said almost lazily.

"Then who and what are you? And how do you know me?" He asked her.

"You're a bit hard to miss love. A mysterious strangers, hired alien intelligence, one with the hair of an idiot, the other with the hair the colour of snow." _Hah, finally someone said it._ Amber giggled to herself, then she hearlised what Liz had said.

She had been talking about her as well, unless someone else had her coloured haid - which wasn't common. That meant that Amber would be with the Doctor long enough to be known.

Amber smiled in realisation of what it meant. "I've been brought up on the stories, my whole family was."

"Your family?" She was about to answer when she saw the smilers start to repair themselves. "They're repairing. It doesn't take them long, let's move." She led them down corridors until they managed to get out of there and into a deserted area. "The Doctor, an old drinking buddy of Henry the 12th, tea and scones with Liz 2, bit on the fence about you wasn't she? Knighted and exiled on the same day and so much for the Virgin Queen you bad, bad boy."

"Liz 10?" Realization dawned on him who she was.

"Liz 10 yeh, Elizabeth the 10th and DOWN!" They all ducked and she started shooting at the things aiming precisely and they fell with a thud. "I'm the bloody queen mate. Basically: I rule."

They made their way towards Liz's chambers, following her through narrow tunnels and corridors until they got to a sort of chamber. Inside Amber saw the scorpion tail things and gasped, surprised that they were there. Liz asked if the Doctor knew what they were.

"Doctor I saw one of these things up top. It was coming through a hole, like it had burst through, almost like a – a root."

"Exactly like a root, it's all one creature. All of it, the same one we were inside and it's reaching out and bursting through the floor." The Doctor said looking up and closer at it.

"What? Like an infestation?" The Doctor did the smallest of nods but Liz saw it.

"Someone's helping it, feeding it. Feeding my subjects to it!" She stormed off, angry at what was happening. "Come on we have to keep moving!" They all followed her but the Doctor who stood there and looked at it. Amber noticed him standing there and walked back.

"Doctor?" She called for him lightly.

"Oh Winter, we should never have come here." He said before he walked off. Amber started to follow but she remembered the video. _Don't let him investigate! Stop him, do whatever you have to but just please, please get the Doctor of this ship!_ The warning had told her and Amber had the most horrible feeling that the choice the Doctor would have to make was coming closer.

Amber walked into the room amazed at what it looked like. "So this is how royalty lives it up." She grinned. "But Uhh…where's the bathroom here?" She asked.

"Through that door to the left." Liz said, sitting down on her bed. Amber gave her thumbs up sign and a smile and walked into the bathroom. There were two things that Amber noticed as she walked into it; firstly, it was huge! And secondly: there was a shower there. _Oh thank god there's a shower here, I can finally wash my hair._ She thought. She walked over to it and turned it on and sighed as she felt the dirt and – disgustingly – the sick wash out of her hair.

She scrubbed it a few times before turning the shower off and wringing out her hair before tying up at the top of her head so it could dry a little. She walked back into the room and sighed contentedly before turning to the mirror and tying her hair into a bum. She heard Liz say that she was fifty and turned to look at her.

"Your fifty now? No way, you look too young." She walked closer to the Queen and sat on her bed, Mandy followed and sat next to her.

"Yeh, they slowed my body clock down. Keeps me looking like the stamps." She said grinning.

"And you always wear this in public?" The Doctor asked looking at the mask with a lot of interest.

"Under cover's not easy when your me; the autographs, the press." She explained.

"Yes but its porcelain, stays in by itself 'cause it's perfectly structured to your face." He brought the mask up to her face as if to prove it.

"Yeh so what?" Liz asked shrugging slightly.

"Oh Liz, so everything." The door opened and in came four men dressed in black. _Those are the men that took me too the voting booth._ Amber thought to herself, her anger and annoyance towards them growing by the minuet.

"How dare you come in here?" Liz asked outraged at their audacity.

"Maam you've expressed interest to the interior workings of Starship U.K, you'll come with us now." He said looking at her.

"Why would I do that?" She asked looking him up and down. His neck turned and the frightening and ugly face of the smilers showed itself. "What the hell is that?" Amber asked, frowning.

"He's half human and half smiler." The Doctor explained to her.

"You must come with us maam." It said again with the same voice.

"On whose authority?" Liz asked furiously.

"The highest authority." It said, it had no emotion in its voice, Amber noticed and that freaked her out enormously.

"I am the highest authority." She hissed. The smiler only looked at her with that face and answered back in the same monotone voice.

"Yes maam but you must come with us now." It seemed to Amber that they weren't really giving them an option and Liz seemed to understand that too. _Either that or she wants to know the truth once and for all._ Amber thought. They followed the smilers and all the way Amber wondered where they were going but she didn't say anything. No one spoke a word as they travelled through the streets of the Starship. They entered a room and as soon as they did Amber saw the scorpion tail things again.

"Doctor where are we?" She asked looking at them. "The lowest point of Starship U.K; the dungeon." He twirled around with his hands out showing them.

"Maam?" A voice sounded out. Everyone turned to look at who the voice had come from. Worthorn, so this is where you hid yourself." Liz said. "I think you have some explaining to do." She said the anger in her voice very clear to everyone in the room.

The Doctor came up to them. "There are children down here, what's all that about?" He asked ruffling the head of one of the boys.

"Protestors and citizens of low value are fed to the beast. For some reason it wont eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared, your very lucky." He said as if it was a privilege. _Yeh great, were oh so lucky _Amber thought and it seemed the Doctor agreed with her too.

"Yeh, look at us; the torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky, except it's not a torture chamber is it? Well except it is, except it isn't. It really depends on your angle." He made his way over to Liz and stood by her. Everybody gathered around it as well.

"What's that?" She asked looking at the brain looking thing.

"Like I said it depends on the angle. It's either the exposed pain centre of big feller's brain being tortured relentlessly or the accelerator; Starship U.K's go faster button."

"I don't understand." Liz said.

"Don't you? Think about it, a spaceship that could never fly. No vibrations on deck. This creature, this poor trapped, terrified creature, it's not infesting you; it's not invading you it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it where you torture it day after day just to keep it moving!"

Amber looked around at Worthorn to see that he looked guilty. "Tell you what…" he moved over to the grid where he lifted it and one of the tentacles came up, "it's usually above the human frequency. This is what the rest of you don't want to hear."

He sonic-ed it and the room was filled with a painful screech. That's what it sounds like, there were tears forming in Amber's eyes and she had to wipe them away. "Stop it, stop it!" Liz commanded, she couldn't bear to hear the pain that this creature was going through. _No, I will stop this!_ She thought.

"Who did this?" She asked looking around the room. "We act on instruction from the highest authority." Worthorn said.

"I _am_ the highest authority!" She said once again. "The creature will be released. Now!" No one moved. "I said NOW! Is anyone listening to me?"

"Liz." The Doctor walked over to her with the mask in his hand. "Your mask."

"What about my mask?" He chucked it to her.

"Look at it. It's old. At least 200 tears old I'd say."

"Yeh, it's and antique so?"

"An antique, made by craftsmen over 200 years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face. They slowed your body clock down alright but your not fifty, your…your nearing 300." Her face fell and she frowned.

"No, I'm fifty, I've been on the throne for ten years." She said. She looked at Worthorn but he wouldn't look at her

"Yes ten years, the same ten years over and over again. Always bringing you back to here." He pulled her over to a chair and a screen and under it were the two buttons 'forget' and 'abdicate' and Liz looked at them before turning to Worthorn.

"What've you done?" She whispered.

"Only what you have ordered. We work for you maam the winders, the smilers, all of us." He flicked a switch and the screen came on and Liz was on it.

_"If you are watching this…if I am watching this, it means I have found my way to the tower of London."_ The Liz on the screen sighed before continuing, _"The creature you are looking at is a Star Whale. Once there were millions of them, they lived in the depths of space and according to legends, they were said to guide weary travellers through the stars. This one – as far as we are aware – is the last of its kind."_ Amber looked at the Doctor when this was said and she saw sadness and sympathy. _But why and what happened to the Timelords?_ She wondered.

_"The earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as everything around us burned. And then it came, like a miracle. We trapped it; we built our ship around it and then rode on its back to safety_.

_"If you wish our voyage to continue then you must press the 'forget' button. Be again the heart of this nation. Untainted. If not then press the 'Abdicate' button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision."_ Horror washed through Amber as she looked at the screen.

"I voted for this," she whispered to no one but herself, and then she turned to the Doctor. "Why would I do that?" She asked him but deep down she knew the answer: _I wanted to forget. I didn't want to remember all the pain that everyone had suffered, the pain that the Doctor would go through everyday…but it didn't do any good._

"Because you knew that if we stayed here then I would be left with an impossible decision to make: humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to keep me away from that. That was wrong! You don't ever decide what I need to know!"

"I did it to protect you! Doesn't that count or anything?" She asked him blinking back tears.

"You did it that's what counts." He told her.

"I'm sorry." She whispered to him.

"Oh I don't care. When were done here your going home." He told her and stormed off. For a moment she couldn't believe what he had said and then when it registered she felt anger welling up inside of her.

"Why? Because I made a mistake? It was one mistake and all to protect you!" Her voice was raising now.

"Yeh I know. You're only human." He told her and she felt the anger grow again.

"What are you doing?" Liz asked him quietly.

"The worse thing I'll ever do." He told her. "I'm passing a massive electrical charge through its brain. It'll leave it a complete vegetable. The ship will still fly but the whale won't feel it."

"But that will be like killing it." Amber said mortified.

The Doctor stopped what he was doing. "Three options: one I let the Star Whale carry on in unendurable agony for hundreds of years. Two, I kill everyone on this ship or three I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as possible and then I find a new name because I wont be the Doctor anymore." He went back to what he was doing and Liz looked at him.

"There must be something we can do…some other way?"

"Nobody talk to me nobody HUMAN HAS ANYTHING TO SAY TO ME TODAY!" Amber almost jumped at the Doctor shouting but she didn't say anything, she moved away, towards where the children were working and then something she saw made her wonder.

There in front of her was Billy working and then the tentacle of the Star Whale came down seemingly about to strike and just as Amber was about to shout to warn him, it tapped him on the shoulder. Billy turned around and stroked it as if it was the most normal thing in the world and then something clicked. "Think Amber. Use your eyes, look at the whole picture." She whispered to herself and then she remembered.

_'Our children screamed,'_ flashes of the day drove through her head. The children playing, Mandy crying.

'_And then it came like a miracle.'_

_'It won't eat the children.'_ Worthorn's voice flew through her head.

_'The children screamed and then it came…it's the last of its kind.' _Mandy sitting and looking so sad about something.

'_Just me now.'_ the Doctor comforting Mandy.

_'The last of it's kind.'_ The Whale banging on the cage.

_'So is this how it works Doctor? You never interfere in other planets affairs-'_ Her asking the Doctor. _'The children screamed-'_ Her and the Doctor together twelve years ago. _'Unless there are children crying.'_

_'The last of its kind.' _The Doctor comforting her.

_'Yes.'_ The Doctor fixing the crack in her wall.

_'It won't eat the children.'_ Liz talking on the screen.

_'And then it came, like a miracle, the last of the Star Whales.'_ The Doctor promising he would come back.

Amber gasped and ran to the Doctor. "Stop! Stop what you're doing Doctor!" She screamed and she faintly heard the zapping slow down once again. "Sorry your majesty but I really need this hand." She made Liz press down on the abdicate button and then the whole ship started shaking.

"Amber what have you done!" The Doctor shouted as he clung onto something to hold onto. For a moment, Amber could hear the people's screams and she dreaded that she had done the wrong thing but then after a few seconds it stopped.

"What have I done? Nothing at all." She said smiling.

"We've increased speed!" Worthorn exclaimed happily.

"Well torturing the pilot couldn't have helped any but now that you've stopped…I'm not surprised!" She told them rolling her eyes. She grinned happily and looked around the room but her gaze fell on the Doctor and her grin fell.

"It's still here. I – I don't understand." Liz breathed.

"The Star Whale didn't come as a miracle all those years ago; it came because it wanted to help. You didn't have to trap it or torture it that was all just you thinking you had to. It came because it couldn't bear to hear your children's cries." She stopped and looked at the Doctor and said the bit she meant for him. "What if your were really old and really kind, and the very last of your kind, you couldn't just step back and let children cry."

**0o0**

The Doctor stood staring at the stars as they passed them from the observing deck. Amber saw him and moved closer and put a smile on her face before walking faster to him.

"From her majesty the queen. She says there will be no more secrets aboard the Starship U.K." She handed him the mask but he didn't take it. Sighing she let her and drop and the mask fell.

"Winter you could have killed everyone on this ship." He said not looking at her. Amber gulped slightly but didn't falter.

"I know, but you could have killed a Star Whale." He looked at her then.

"And you saved it, I know I know." Amber looked back at the stars again, not say anything for a couple of seconds.

"Amazing though isn't it? All that pain and suffering and loneliness it only made it more kind."

"But you couldn't have known how it would react."

"No you couldn't, but I could. I've seen it before you see? Very old, very kind and the very last of his kind. Sound like anyone you know?" He smiled at her and she smiled back but it was a sad smile.

The Doctor noticed a small tear from at the corner of her eye. "Hey what's wrong?" He asked her. She shook her head and stepped back wiping the tear before it could fall.

"We should probably go." She whispered but he still heard it and it confused him.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm a human remember? I make mistakes." Was all she said and guilt welled up inside of him as he remembered the words he had told her not that long ago.

"Yeh, your right. You make mistakes, your human but do you know what?" She shook her head. "That's what makes you brilliant and hey I make mistakes too." He smiled at her and this time when she smiled back it was a full happy smile because she understood what he was saying.

Amber walked forward and pulled him into a full on hug wrapping her arms tightly around him. "Hey, gotcha."

"Gotcha," she giggled back at him. They let go and started walking back to the TARDIS.

"Come along Swann," he told her walking quickly.

"But won't they wonder where we've gone?" She asked him trying to keep up in her slippers.

"For the rest of their lives. Oh the stories they'll tell and the songs they'll sing." He told her walking up to the TARDIS and opening it. "But forget about that, we've got places to go, people to see." He started fiddling with the controls when Amber heard the phone ring.

"Hang on, is that a phone ringing?" She wondered.

"Yes. Well it is a phone box." He told her seeing her shocked expression. "Answer that will you?" He asked her. Amber picked it up.

"Hello?"

_"I need the Doctor right away it's an emergency."_ A voice tells her. She looked at the phone and then at the Doctor.

"It's for you. They say it's an emergency."

"Who is it?" He asks her. _That is a weird smile he has,_ she thought.

"Who is it?" She asks. _"It's the prime minister."_

"Who?" She asked shocked. He repeated what he said and she looked at the Doctor. "You get around don't you? First the queen now the prime minister." He smiled at her almost lazily.

"Which prime minister?" he asked. She repeated the question into the phone.

"The British one."

"Which British one?" He asked her and she frowned.

"Oh my God I cant take it!" She cried. "You talk to him." She pushed the phone into his awaiting hand and walked around the console.

He took the phone from her and then started chatting to him like they were poker buddies. "Don't worry about a thing prime minister. Were on our way." He said smiling and then put down the phone. "Next stop…World War II." He flipped a switch and then the shaking started and Amber held on tight for dear life laughing out loud in sheer wonder.

**_In bed above or deep asleep, while greater loves lies further deep  
This dream must end this world must know, we all depend on the Beast below._**


	4. Chapter 3 part 1

**So here is the next part. I want to thank Hafizah for reviewing and everyone who has viewed it but come on people. 344 views and only 2 reviews? what an injustice.**

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The Time of Angels

Amber followed the Doctor as he walked around looking at all the artefacts in their cases. She was bored beyond belief as she looked at all the things around them as very few caught her eye. The Doctor had promised to take her to a planet after they – or rather he had defeated the Daleks once again.

It was a close call that included the Doctor having to go off and defeat the Daleks on their own spaceship as they tried to light up London enough so that the Germans would be able to see them but in the end the Doctor had managed to turn all the lights back off saving the day once again and leaving Amber amazed at him.

He had told her though, once they got back to the TARDIS all about the Daleks and that he hadn't been able to destroy them for good this time either but she had smiled and told him that he had stopped then that time. But now here they were, looking through a museum as old as dust and the Doctor was _keeping score._

"Yeh that's great but can we go to a planet now?" She tried to not sound like a whiny child as much as possible but she was so bored. The Doctor suddenly stopped at a black cube.

"Oh look at this beauty." He said happily.

"What is it?" She asked humouring him a little. _Maybe if he looks at everything enough then we can go quicker._ She thought.

"It's a home box." He told her. She was about to ask what that was when he told her. "It's like a black box but it homes. If the ship crashed then the home box flies back home and manage to save all the data ready to upload into another ship if needed."

"So?"

"The writing, the graffiti Alti-Galiffrayan, lost language of the Timelords." Amber perked up a little at that. "They were days, there were many days these words could burn stars and raise up empires and topple gods." As he spoke, Amber became more and more interested in the current topic.

"So what does this one say?" She asked curiously. The Doctor seemed to pause and them he mumbled something just loud enough hear."'Hello sweetie'" Amber just about managed to keep in her laugh. Well that was before she began wondering what he was doing. The Doctor had taken out his Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket, aimed it at the glass and smashed it.

"What are you doing?" She screamed at him as an alarm began blaring throughout the museum.

"No time, I'll tell you in the TARDIS now run!" And with that they were running as the security guards chased after them. Pretty soon Amber could see the TARDIS and she ran even faster, it seemed that they had just managed to get into the TARDIS before the guards started banging on the walls and then they were Doctor plugged the home box into the TARDIS and flicked a few switches trying to get the screen to start working and Amber watched him as he did.

"Why are we doing this?" She asked him.

"Because someone on a spaceship 12,000 years ago is trying to attract my attention. Let's see if we can get the security camera's working." He told her still fiddling with the Amber's surprise she saw the screen flicker and on it was a woman in – as far as Amber could tell – a black dress. They watched as she looked around and winked into the screen. The Doctor took one of the wires out and the image changed to the woman standing with her back towards them.

"The party's over Dr Song, yet still you're on board." The woman turned and Amber saw that she was an older woman, but still very woman – _Dr Song – _Amber corrected herself had a smug smile on her face as she answered back to the man.

"Sorry Alistair, I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there, any of you? Because I'll tell you something: this ship won't reach its destination."Her tone was still smug as she looked at 'Alistair', like she didn't care if he was about to shoot her.

"Wait till she runs. Don't make it look like an execution." Even without seeing the man's face Amber could tell that he was frustrated at her answer. Amber guessed it was because she was basically reprimanding him in a smug way. Dr Song herself had started saying a sting of words and numbers and the Doctor sprang into action.

"What was that? What did she say?" The Doctor carried on working, typing things and pulling levers.

"They're co-ordinates." He dinged the big golden bell - Amber had yet to figure out what it did and then she felt the TARDIS whir and shake, indicating that they were off to wherever the coordinates would take them. Amber watched the screen as the TARDIS flew wherever it was meant to.

"Like I said on the dance floor: 'you'd better find something to hold on to.'" A beeping sounded but Amber couldn't see where it was coming from. Dr Song blew a kiss at the men and held open her arms as the door opened, pulling her out into space and then Amber couldn't see anything but the Doctor ran to the door opened it, waiting for her. Amber had just managed to run over to him when a woman fell right on top of him.

"River?" Dr Song jumped up and ran to the door.

"Follow that ship!" She commandeed. The Doctor jumped up and ran over to the control panels pressing buttons, pulling lever, generally what he would do to fly the thing but it was a very bumpy journey. Dr Song came over to the panels and put her red heels onto the screen handle before looking at it."They've gone into warp drive. Were loosing them, keep up!"

"I'm trying." Amber could here the frustration in the Doctor's tone and she giggled quietly in the corner as they fought. They obviously knew each other to be fighting like this but then again…the Doctor didn't like back-seat drivers and that was certainly what River Song was doing.

"Use the stabilisers." She told him, they were all shouting because of how loud the TARDIS was being.

"We don't _have_ stabilisers." He shouted right back.

"The blue switches."

"Well the blue ones don't do anything they're just…blue."

"Yes they're blue," she said leaning over him to press the buttons. "They're blue stabilisers." Immediately the TARDIS stopped shaking and Amber frowned. _Why does she know how to do that?_

"Yeh well…that's just boring now isn't it? They're boringers, that's what they are. Blue boringers."Amber walked over to the Doctor and whispered in his ear.

"Doctor why can she fly the TARDIS?"

"You call that flying the TARDIS? HAH!" He walked over moodily to stand in the corner and Amber smiled at him.

"Okay…" Amber had no idea what she was talking about as she said the words she did but what she did pick up on shocked her: Dr Song had landed the TARDIS and she had done it without the whole whirring noise too."

'Parked us'?" The Doctor asked. "We haven't landed."

"Of course we've landed. I just landed her." There was a playful smugness in her voice as she told the Doctor that but it seemed to Amber that the Doctor didn't like it. _Well not so much that but probably the fact that River just managed to make a fool out of him._ She thought to herself.

"But…it didn't make the noise." The Doctor said quietly. Amber looked at him noticing the slight surprise on his face.

"What noise?" River asked smilingly.

"The-" the Doctor tried to make the TARDIS whirring noise and in Amber's opinion, he failed leaned in closer.

"It's not supposed to make that noise. _You _leave the brakes on." Amber's eyes widened in shock and she smiled a big grin.

"Hah! I told you that's what it sounded like and I was right. You leave the brakes on!" Amber laughed. She saw River smile at her as she laughed but the look on the Doctor's face was just too funny.

"Yes, well it's a brilliant noise, I love that noise. Come along Swann." Then he noticed her practically on the floor still laughing and sighed. "Well, when you're done laughing at me that is."Amber stopped laughing for a moment but she couldn't stop the giggles that left her mouth.

The Doctor was making his way towards the door by then but River stopped him. "No wait environment checks." She told him looking at the screen.

"Ahh yes environment checks." Amber watched as he carried on making his way towards the door and opened it.

"Nice out," he said. Amber smiled at him.

"Were somewhere in the Ghan Belt Atmosphere. Early indication would suggest-"

"Were on Alphalfa Matraxsis, the 7th planet of the Dundra System. Oxygen rich atmosphere, toxics in the air, 11 hour day and-" he stuck his head out the door and came back. "Chances of rain later."

"He thinks he's so hot when he does that." River said looking at her. Amber couldn't help the small smile as she looked between the two. But there was a question still badgering in her mind.

"Why is it that you can fly the TARDIS?" She asked.

"Oh I had lessons from the very best." She told her. Amber heard a smug 'well' in the background before River stopped the probably very happy smile the Doctor had on his face. "It's a shame you were busy that day. Right then, why did they land here?"

"They didn't land here." The Doctor said. The smugness hightened in his voice as he smiled slyly at her.

"What?"

"You should have checked the home box. They didn't land, they crashed." He said jumping up and following Amber as River went outside but before Amber could follow her the Doctor closed the door.

"Alright Doc, time to explain. Who was that and how did she do the thing with the museum?" Amber asked as the Doctor flickered with the controls on the TARDIS.

"It's a long story and I don't know most of it." Amber rolled her eyes. "Off we go then."

"Wait, what are you doing?" She asked him.

"Leaving. She's gone where she wants to go so let's go where we want to go." He really was planning on leaving but Amber wanted to know more so she poked.

"Are you running away?" She asked almost teasingly.

"Yep."

"Why?" Her tone was a little sharper now.

"Because she's the future, my future."

"And you can run away from that?"

"I can run away from anything I like. Time is not the boss of me." A small flashback flew into the Doctor's mind but he pushed it away not wanting to deal with it right at this moment. As much as he loved Winter, she was stubborn and relentless and right now she was doing what she was well known for. And the Doctor was crumbling.

"Come on, you promised me a planet and there is a planet right on your doorstep. Just 5 minuets?" He still wasn't budging so she tried one more time. "Please?"The Doctor broke and really it didn't take very long. _I really have to work on that one. _

"Okay, 5 minutes." He watched as she ran out the TARDIS gleefully. "But that's all because I'm telling you now that woman is not dragging me into anything!"Amber looked around at the burning space ship as the Doctor and River babbled on about something or another.

"Aren't you going to introduce us Doctor?" Amber asked as he walked back to her. She thought she heard him sigh but ignored it.

"No," he sulked. She rolled her eyes and walked up to River.

"Hi, I'm Amber Swann, the most current companion to the 909 year old Timelord that is currently acting like a 5 year old." River smiled at the jab to the Doctor.

"River Song. Though I must say, you must be in the early stages if you're still calling yourself Amber."

Amber frowned nervously at what she had...implied."What do you mean early stages?" She asked but River only smiled.

"Spoilers." With that she carried on doing whatever it was she was doing leaving Amber to look around once more. The ship they had been supposedly following was crashed on top of a very large and very old stone structure. It is burning in areas and bits of debris had fallen to the ground around the TARDIS making it look even more out of place than it already Doctor, River and Amber stood there, looking up at it, Amber not paying as much attention to the ship as the other two.

She was brought back to the matter at hand when she heard River asking a question. "What caused it to crash? Not me."

"Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it. According to the Home Box, the warp engines had a phase-shift. No survivors." Amber looked between the two as they had a conversation which was mostly filled with words she had never heard of in her , she got bored and rolled her eyes at the two.

"Dear god, you two are worse than an old married couple with all the constant arguing." As she said that a pang of something odd fluttered in her chest and she frowned momentarily.

"Oh no sweetie no, that's your job."

"What?" Amber gasped. She frowned once again at the sly and knowing smile that was playing on River's lips. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" But River said nothing, only walked off. "Ohh, is she always this…"

"Annoying? Yes she is." The Doctor told her with a smile. Amber smiled back at him but then she felt something cold. It was like…someone was walking over her grave, as if there was something evil and cold walking straight threw her and she shivered. The Doctor saw this and frowned."Are you okay Winter?"

"Uhh, yeh sorry it was just a bit of a chill." He was still frowning but he nodded anyway. Winter, getting a chill was generally unheard of.

She never got sick, never had colds and never got 'chills' which meant that there was something he had first met Winter, she had a peculiar knack of knowing when there was danger up ahead and he had never figured out why – or at least, the TARDIS never let him figure it her chill was worrying him now and the Doctor swore he would do whatever it took to keep her safe but right now… "I'm nobody's taxi service!" He said to River. "I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a space ship."

"And you are so wrong. There's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die. Now he's listening!" She said smiling into the communicator she was holding. _"_You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal." Then she held up the communicator and called to the Doctor, "Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon."

Begrudgingly, the Doctor takes his sonic out of his jacket pocket and points it at River. It immediately made the whizzing noise for a moment before the Doctor pulled it smiled but she still felt the small shiver fall over her as she looked at the ship again.

River had said that there was something in there that could never die and as far as she knew, whenever someone said that, it meant that someone was going to die. _Come now Amber, be positive, _she heard her aunt's voice in her head and she smiled slightly_. _

After River was done with her call she pulled out a small little blue book. It actually looked like the door to the TARDIS to Amber and she looked at it oddly. "What's that?" She asked the Doctor.

"A little blue book. Stay away from it." He told her not even having to look to know what she was talking about.

"I can see that, but why?"

"It's her diary." He told Amber but that obviously didn't appease her and what River said after that didn't help matters. "Her past, my...future. Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order so she uses it to keep track."

As he said that four columns of swirling "dust" appeared, quite far off from them and then turn into four soldiers in desert camouflage uniforms. They reminded Amber of the army back on earth. One of the soldiers approached River and looked at her with annoyance.

"You promised me an army, Doctor Song."

"No, I promised you the equivalent of an army. Unfortunately, they're very early on so it may take a little longer than I anticipated." _There she goes again with the not-making-sense-thing. One of these days I'm going to find out what she means._ Amber army guy shook the Doctor's hand, and as he did this, he introduced himself.

"Father Octavian, sir. Bishop, second class. 20 Clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation. Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?"

"Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?" At the look of panic that momentarily crossed the Doctor's face, Amber felt her stomach sink. She had known the Doctor long enough now to know that when he _showed_ his panic, it was not going to be good.

By the time everyone was almost ready to go, the suns had gone down and they were in some sort of Doctor and Father Octavian were talking and mostly, Amber was just standing there, not really bothering to try and understand what it was they were talking about.

"The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship. Our mission is to get inside and neutralise it. We can't get through up top; we'd be too close to the drives. According to this, behind the cliff face, there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, and then make our way up."

"Oh, good." Amber rolled her eyes at the underlying sarcastic tone the Doctor had. But the cleric obviously hadn't caught on to it.

"Good sir?"

"Catacombs, probably dark ones. Dark catacombs, great!" Amber snorted at that one, but it seemed only the Doctor noticed. He looked at her and gave her a big grin which she returned back.

"Technically, I think it's called a maze of the dead." Father Octavian told him. Amber grinned again at the Doctor's expression

."You can stop any time now." He told him. Amber laughed as another cleric came up to Octavian and he went with the walked up to the Doctor, smirking slightly.

"That's thee times you've let him call you sir now." He gave her a look but she carried on. "So, whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, right?"

"Now that's interesting..." He told her. "You're still here. Which part of "wait in the TARDIS till I tell you it's safe" was so confusing?"

"The part where you told me to wait in the TARDIS." She saw the Doctor roll his eyes at her and she faced him. "What's wrong with you today? You're really grumpy."

"A Weeping Angel, Winter, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced, and one is trapped inside that wreckage and I'm supposed to climb in with a screwdriver and a torch – and assuming I survive the radiation, and the whole ship doesn't blow up in my face – do something clever which I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day, that's what I'm up to. Any questions?"

"Two. Firstly, what do you mean _you _have to climb into a wreckage? You have the Clerics, River and me – even though I won't be much help, and secondly, is River Song you're wife in the future or something? Because she's got a very 'heel boy' type of attitude going on."

"Yes. You're right. I am definitely Mr Grumpy Face today." Amber rolled her eyes at him again but this time it was because he was doing that thing again. When he didn't actually know something he'd tell you you're right and for a companion, that was the best. It meant that you were able to understand the Doctor a little more which meant you were getting closer to him.

Then, the Doctor was called over to River and Amber smiled. "You're wife is calling Doctor." As she said the words, an odd wave of something rolled over her but Amber had no clue what it was. If she was being completely honest she would say that it was incredibly annoying and as she watched him walk to her she felt the odd feeling smother Amber walked over to where they were standing and talking with Father Octavian.

"Why is he called Father?" She whispered to the Doctor.

"He's their Bishop, they're his Clerics. It's the 51st Century, the Church has moved on."

"So it's church and guns? Isn't that sort of counter productive?" She asked contemplating what she had learned when her aunt had made her go to Sunday school.

"It is a bit." The Doctor told her smiling fondly. They walked into the little van that was parked in front of them. Inside there was a giant screen with a picture of an Angel with its hands covering its face but why it was important was lost on Amber.

"What do you think?" River asked, "It's from the security cameras in the _Byzantium_ vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. Its four seconds. I've put it on loop."

"Yeah, it's an Angel. Hands covering its face." _Great, were all stating the obvious now. _

"You've encountered the Angels before?" Father Octavian asked.

"Once, one Earth but they were only scavengers then, barely surviving." The way they were talking about the Angel made Amber nervous. It didn't make sense.

"But what's so important about an angel? It's just that…an angel isn't it?" But as Amber said that she was hit with a sudden odd feeling; the one you get when you know someone who shouldn't be is watching you and on reflex Amber turned her head over her shoulder trying to find the source of it.

"It's a statue when you see it." River told her. Something flashed into her mind as she remembered a course she had taken in University.

"So what, like once you looks at it the angel ceases to exist? Like a quantum lock?" Everybody looked at her oddly. "What?" She asked frowning slightly.

"How do you know about quantum locks?" The Doctor asked her."I learnt about it in school?" It ended off in a question. "But it probably hasn't got anything to do with this so-"

"No, no it does that's the point. In the sight of any living creature, the Angels literally cease to exist. They're just stone, and you can't kill stone." The Doctor was still looking at Amber with a look she couldn't identify. It was odd but not unwanted.

"River was right." Amber whispered. "We're dealing with something that can't die."

"By now the hyperdrive would've split on impact. The whole ship will be flooded with radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms, deadly to almost any living thing." The Doctor explained to everyone.

"Deadly to an Angel?" Father Octavian asked. Amber snorted quietly to herself. _Not with our luck it isn't._

"Dinner to an Angel." _Yep, thought so. _"The longer we leave it, the stronger it will grow. Who built that temple? Are they still around?"

"The Aplans. They're an indigenous life-form that died out 400 years ago." River told them reading off the handheld in her palm."200 years later, the planet was terraformed. Currently there are six billion human colonists." Octavian continued off from where River didn't know.

"You lot, you're everywhere! Like rabbits! I'll never get done saving you." The Doctor told them jumping onto a big rock.

"Oi!" Amber called climbing up on the rock to hit him on the arm. "Not our fault."

"Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the local population..." The Doctor looked at him and Amber held in a giggle at his face. Then she remembered the situation and realised that they probably were in trouble."Oh, there is. Bad as it gets. Bishop, lock and load!"

"Verger, how we doing with those explosives?" He didn't wait for an answer before turning to River. "Dr Song, with me."

"Two minutes. Sweetie, I need you." Amber frowned as she heard what River had called the Doctor. 'Sweetie,' she mouthed at the same time as the Doctor but they were for two very different reasons.

Amber mouthed it with annoyance and with – unknown to her – jealousy while the Doctor mouthed it with only annoyance. He had already met Winter, he had already fallen for her and as he thought back to how it was before, he finally understood how she must have he realised that River was actually talking to him he walked over to her leaving Winter by herself but as he looked over at her he saw her close her eyes sadly and he found his hearts breaking for her.

"Does anyone need me? Anyone, anything…no? Okay then." She crossed her arms and looked around looking for _something _to do. Her eyes landed on the van and she smiled to herself; if she couldn't help then she would just slowly moved forward, entranced and worried by the Angel on the screen; since the last time she had seen it, it had moved.

The Angel's hands were now near its face but not covering its bubbled in her stomach but she forced herself to calm down. "Its fine," she whispered to herself. "There's probably another image." She blocked out the memory of River telling them there were only 4 seconds of moved to the door and stuck her head out of the van looking for the Doctor and River.

When she saw them she forced herself to ask the question. "Uhh River," she shouted. "Did you only have the one clip of the Angel?"

"Yes, just the 4 seconds." Dread filled Amber but then there was also curiosity. The saying 'curiosity killed the cat' had always applied to her and gleefully she had always answered with 'but the answer brought it back.'

She moved back to the screen and picked up the remote pointing it at the screen and turned it off. For a moment the picture went black and she smiled in relief but it quickly dropped when the screen flickered back to life."You're just a recording. You can't move."

She had understood when the Doctor had said the Angel was quantum locked but this wasn't the actual Angel, just a a slightly shaky hand Amber raised the remote and pressed the button and just like before it switched off and on again. In both fear and surprise she dropped the remote.

Her eyes fell to where the remote had dropped and then flickered back to the Angel had moved closer."Doctor!" She called. Amber wasn't sure that he would be able to hear her though and she licked her lips. She tried the door again but it wasn't opening at all. She looked back at the screen to see the Angel with its mouth open, teeth bared.

With a flash of fear, Amber realised it reminded her of an animal about to pounce on its prey. "Doctor!" She called out. Amber looked at the screen again. The Angel had moved. "Doctor!" Not only had the Angel moved, but it had also become a solid object in the room. Amber couldn't hold it in anymore and she creamed, louder than she had before. "Doctor it's in the room!"

"Winter!" She heard the Doctor shout. _Took him long enough. _She thought. It took all of Amber's self control to not look towards the door, comfort flooding through her at the Doctors presence – but the Angel now had a solid form. She couldn't afford to _not_ keep looking anymore.

"Doctor." She only called out again.

"Are you all right? What's happening?" The Doctor asked from the other side of the door.

"Doctor it's coming out of the screen. The Angel is coming out of the screen."

"Don't take your eyes off it!" She heard the comforting whir of his sonic screwdriver_._ _"_It can't move if you're looking. What's wrong? It's deadlocked."

"There is no deadlock." It was River's voice she heard this time and although she felt jealousy towards the woman, Amber still felt relief shoot through her.

"Don't blink, Winter! Don't even blink!" Amber mentally rolled her eyes at the comment.

"What do you think I'm doing? Taking a nap? No! This isn't easy Doctor so will you _hurry up_!"

"What are you doing?" River asked the Doctor. Amber didn't care so long as it was helping her.

"I'm cutting the power. It's using the screen; I'm turning the screen off." _That wont work, _Amber thought. "It's no good, it's deadlocked the whole system." _Told you._

"There's no deadlock."

"There is now!" The Doctor shouted. He was starting to panic now. Winter was still in there and according to her, the Angel now had a physical form. That meant that she could be displaced in time if the Angel touched her. _But that's not so bad._ The Doctor found himself thinking. _If that happens then I will find her!_

"Yeh, still trapped in here. Help me!" Amber snapped.

"Winter! Can you turn it off?" He asked.

"No, I've already tried. The Angel keeps turning it back on." Amber found her eyes itching so she moved them around, still on the Angel mind you, just at another point on the statue. As it happened, her gaze fell on the Angels eyes. It was a creepy feeling, Amber realised. Looking into the eyes of the thing that wanted to kill you but she found that for some reason, she couldn't look away.

As she carried on looking into the Angels eyes she felt a horrible cold feeling – like someone was walking over her grave and she felt as if someone was crawling into her soul. Quickly she tore her eye from it's, and moved them over to the Angels chest.

"Winter try again!" The Doctor shouted bringing her back to reality. "Each time it moves, it becomes faster so don't even blink!"

"I'm not! Have you ever tried not blinking Doctor? Let me tell it's hard." She tried turning it off again but once again the screen flickered on. "Doctor?" Her voice was quieter now, softer. "It's not a recording anymore is it?" She asked.

"No, anything that takes the image of an Angel is an Angel. Just keep looking at it Winter."

"What's it going to do to me? What'll happen if it touches me?" Amber's voice was still quiet, too quiet. It was almost resigned; and the Doctor didn't like her tone. It sounded like she was giving up.

"Just – don't look away."

"Don't hide the truth Doctor, just tell me what its going to do to me." Her voice was almost a whisper now and when she didn't hear anything from the Doctor she all but gave up.

Then she heard his voice again. "Winter not the eyes. Look anywhere but don't look at the eyes." His voice sounded panicky and Amber froze.

"Why not the eyes Doctor?"

"The eyes are not the windows of the soul, they are the doors. Beware what may enter there." On reflex Amber looked into it's eyes again but then dropped the just as quickly. This was not good. _There's an Angel standing in front of me waiting to kill me and it's only meant to be an image on a – Wait!_

"What did you just say?"

"Don't look at the eyes." He repeated.

"No not that bit; the bit about images."

"Whatever holds the image of an Angel, is an Angel." Amber smiled at the Angel. "Alright then Angel, try and hold this. One…two…three…four." She pressed the remote on the static part of the clip and the screen went off. What was better was it stayed off.

The door automatically opened and Amber swung around. "I froze it! There was a part on the clip that went static after the four seconds and I froze it on the static and the screen didn't turn on again." She grinned at the Doctor and River. "You have to admit that was pretty awesome."

"Your right. That was amazing!" River said hugging her. "Doctor you'd better hug her before I hit you." She said teasingly.

"You don't have to. I'm fi-" she was cut off with a hug from the Doctor.

She was so surprised that she took a little while hugging him back but when she did, she hugged him fiercely. "Don't worry me like that okay?" The Doctor said breathing in her scent. She smelt like pomegranates, honey and a crisp winter morning. That had been part of the reason he had constantly called her Winter instead of Amber.

"I'm fine Doctor." She said smiling at him when he pulled back. "I'm always fine." She smiled again as he hugged her and his unique smell filled her nose; it was a mixture between pine and mint. It was odd but it was comforting.

"So it was here? That was the Angel?" River asked when they pulled apart again. "That was a projection of the Angel. It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant." An explosion went off in the background making Amber jump.

"Were through Doctor." Father Octavian called out.

"Now it starts." The Doctor said sullenly.

* * *

**Okay I know I said I would do two parters as a whole, but the chapter i'm writig is getting of to a slow start so...**

**Oh and I know that I missed the Dalek one but they come up so many times and there was nothing _that_ important in it so i decided to skip it. Like I said before, this is FanFictio; we have the Artistic license to be able to do stuff like that. **

**A head's up though; after Flesh and Stone, things will get very different. **


	5. Chapter 3 part 2

**Thank you to everyone who has read it, i appreciate it. I would also like to thank Brownbug, Anabelle, BeckytheMockingjay and EvysActress for reviewing.**

* * *

The Doctor climbed down a rope ladder and joined Octavian who was already at the bottom. They both turned on their torches and looked around at the cave. Not long after, Amber and River joined them and the other soldiers.

"Do we have a gravity globe?" The Doctor asked. He was handed something that reminded Amber of a touch sensitive night light little kids were given by their parents.

"So where are we?" Amber asked. River turned to look at her and smiled sweetly.

"Were in an Aplan mortarium. Sometimes called a maze of the dead."

"Which is what exactly?"

"Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone..." The Doctor kicked the gravity sphere like a football and it flew through the air, stopped and then lit up the cave showing a large number of stone statues, "the perfect hiding place." Amber sighed at the amount of statues that there seemed to be. They were going to have to look through them all – while also making sure the Angel didn't kill them.

"Travelling with you is never just easy is it?" She asked him. His only answering response was the child like grin he forever had on his face.

"It's a needle in a haystack." River said shockingly.

"A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle. Of death. A hay-alike needle of death in a haystack of, err, statues. No, yours was fine." Both Amber and River looked at the Doctor and rolled their eyes.

I don't know…you probably could have stuck with a needle that looked like hay…" Amber said, teasing the Doctor slightly. Octavian however decided to jump straight into action.

"Right. Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection. One question - how do we fight it?"

"We find it, and hope." The Doctor's voice was mellow. There was nothing to joke about when Weeping Angels were involved. If he had his way, Winter would be locked up in the TARDIS. He looked over to see Winter rubbing her eye. She probably wouldn't speak to him for ages but at least she would have been safe.

The Doctor shined his torch in every direction making sure the Angel wasn't anywhere while Amber followed. She stopped and looks at the many levels above them and all the statues lining the way. _This really isn't going to be easy,_ she thought. _Like the Doctor said; it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. _She rubbed the corner of her eye with one finger again but this time a little grit was found.

It was still itching though so using her full hand she rubbed her eye. This time she felt something more than grit, sand and grit came through her fingers. She could feel it, powdered and dry. Scared, she stopped and looked at her hand but sees nothing.

River came up behind her. "You all right?" She asked her worriedly. Amber was still looking at her hand.

"Yeh, fine." She told River quietly. _It's not real. Something probably fell on my hand from the ceiling. _She forced herself to believe and turning to River, she recovered. "So this maze… why's it called the Maze of the Dead?"

"Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a labyrinth with dead people buried in the walls." Looking at Amber's face she thought over the statement again. "OK, that was fairly bad. Right give me your arm. This won't hurt a bit." She shot Amber in the arm, ignoring the fait yelp of shock.

"Ow." She cried.

"There, you see. I lied. It's a viro-stabiliser. Stabilises your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship."

"Right. I'm going to pretend that I know what you're talking about and ask you a question." River made a 'go ahead' motion with her hand. "You know him in the future right? So what's…" she paused and waited for a second. There where two very different questions she wanted to ask. She played it safe though and asked the one she could. "What's he like in the future?"

"The Doctor?" River asked, "Well to be entirely honest, there's only one person in the entire universe that knows the Doctor better than he knows himself." River told her, looking slyly at the girl next to her.

"That must be nice," she murmured. "Knowing what's going on in his head."

"I'm sure it is, but then again, it almost takes the whole mystery out of the Doctor." Amber found herself smiling at that and then looked at the Doctor.

"Yes we are," both she and River said together towards the Doctor.

"Sorry? What?" The Doctor asked looking down at the device in his hand, looking like he's not paying any attention to the girls.

"Talking about you," River told him.

"I wasn't listening, I'm busy." He told them but Amber only smirked. She had seen River use the device before and from what she could tell, the Doctor was holding it the wrong way round. Her suspicions were confirmed when River told him that as Doctor looked at the two of them, smirking together and turned it the other way up. Sure enough it the data made much more sense now.

"Yeh," he said quietly. _That's it; there will be no living with either of them now. _He thought to himself; the smugness would rise even higher. Still though, he carried on listening to the conversation. They already knew he was so there wasn't any harm done.

"You must know him really well then," Amber was saying. "Are you two like, together in the future then?" He didn't need River to know the answer to that one.

"Oh my dear sweet Amber, do you really think it could be something that simple? After all, this is the Doctor were talking about." River teased.

"Well…" The Doctor couldn't see her but the implication was there and he continued to listen as they carried on talking.

"You are good. I'm not saying your right but you are very, very good."Amber was about to walk back over to the Doctor when she heard gun shots coming from behind them. She turned around just in time to see the Doctor whizz past her and she and River followed her.

Apparently, one of the men had started shooting at a statue, claiming to have thought it had looked at the Bishop reprimanded him Amber felt annoyance towards the man build up. If she had a gun then she would probably become incredibly trigger happy in this place. After all, they were in a stone maze surrounded by statues that looked like that freaking killer Angel.

Amber calmed down a little when the Doctor stepped in and defended the man. She almost smiled when he implied that the Bishop was a moron. "We'll be moving into the maze in two minuets." He then became quieter and Amber couldn't hear what he had said to him but she didn't doubt it would be something that made him feel worse than he already was so when the Bishop moved away, she moved closer.

"Bob right?" She asked him.

"Yes Ma'am." He replied and Amber smiled kindly to him.

"Just call me Amber, everybody does, well everyone except the Doctor. He never listens when I correct him so I call him doc." Bob smiled a little and Amber felt happier at that.

"Hey, do you mind if I walk with you Bob?"

"No," he told her and she smiled gratefully.

"Cool, thanks." Amber walked with him for a little while more, talking to him, asking him about him life. She learned a lot about him, like why he had joined the Church; he was following in his father's footsteps and he told he how proud his mother had said she was when he joined. But that wasn't just it.

Without the money from this job, his mother and sister wouldn't be able to stay in their house. They'd be chucked out and they wouldn't be able to survive on the streets. _He misses them so much,_ Amber realised. She also realised she hadn't so much as thought about her aunt in the time she had been with the Doctor and she vowed to make him take her home to visit them for a little Bob left to go and find Angelo and Christian and Amber caught up with the Doctor and River.

"Why is the maze so…long?" She asked River.

"The maze was created on six levels; it's to represent the levels of the soul." River explained.

"They were wonderful builders the Aplans."

"We should visit them one day," The Doctor told her and she grinned with excitement.

"They've all died out though haven't they?" She asked him. Amber loved just how excited he became when he wanted to try something new. The face he made was so cute that it could put a puppy to shame.

"So has Virginia Wolfe, but I'm on her bowling team. Lovely woman she is, sort of relaxed but that comes with having two heads."Amber stared at him shocked.

"They have two heads?" She asked. The Doctor nodded. _Okay then,_ she thought. But even as she said that something didn't feel looked around at the statues trying to work it out. The Doctor carried on explaining to her something about them but she wasn't listening. Instead Amber carried on looking at the statues.

Then it froze in horror and fear."Doctor," she cried. The Doctor turned and looked at her worriedly. "You said the Aplans have two heads, they all have two heads. You kept saying it, over and over again but I didn't realise." Towards the end it had turned into a whisper.

"What is it?" River asked walking up to the worried girl. Amber looked up at her and then at the Doctor.

"If the Aplans have two heads then…why don't the statues?" The Doctor's eyes went wide and he looked around at the statues.

"Oh," Amber heard the same thing from River. Both horrified as they realised what she had only moments ago."How could we have not realised that?" River asked. "How did Amber…"

"There must be a low level perception filter, or maybe were just thick!"

"What's wrong, sir?" Octavian asked hearing the worried tone in the Doctor's voice. He was well aware that this was not a good thing; because when the Doctor was worried, nothing was okay.

"Nobody move." Amber found herself frozen on the spot before the Doctor had said anything. "Everyone stay exactly where they are. Bishop, I am truly sorry. I've made a mistake and we are all in danger."

"What danger?" Octavian asked."The Aplans," the Doctor quietly told everyone moving around in a circle trying to look at them all.

"The Aplans?" Octavian repeated somewhat confusedly.

"They have two heads." River told him. Still Octavian didn't understand what all the fuss about them and so asked why it had any relevance. "Then why don't the statues." Cold fear washed over them all as they realised what it was the Doctor was saying and Amber found herself snap out of her stupor as she saw the fear on each person's face.

"Everyone, over there. Just move, don't ask questions, and don't speak." The Doctor ordered. Everyone moved quickly where the Doctor had pointed. As it happened, it was a spot in view of all the statues while simultaneously without any itself.

"OK. I want you all to switch off your torches."

"Sir?"

"Just do it!" He ordered firmly and waited till they all complied. "OK. I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment." He told them.

"Are you sure about this?" River asked.

"Yes." He said looking momentarily at Winter. "But I hope I'm wrong." The Doctor switched off his torch for a split second and when he turned it on again, the statues – that had been facing all direction, where now in front and facing them.

"Oh God they've moved!" Someone said loudly. The Doctor ran off looking at all of the statues leaving the other to follow him.

"They're Angels. All of them!"

"But they can't be." River gasped keeping her eyes on each Angel.

"Clerics, keep watching them. Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us."Amber looked around at the Angels, if you could call them that; they were old and broken and it seemed like they were slow. _If they're image is power then they must not be able to move that quickly. That's good then, it means we won't die._ Bur even then, the Doctor had said that the Angel fed off the radiation the ship was giving off meaning that every second these Angels were getting stronger and if they were getting stronger, it also meant they were getting alerted the Doctor to her findings as quickly as she could.

"Doctor, the Angels are feeding off the radiation and getting stronger!" The Doctor span around and looked at Winter. A small part of him felt pride that she had figured that out quickly but it was being squashed by the overwhelming fear for her life!

"This is bad. This is very, very not good." He muttered before speaking louder once he realised what was happening. "The crash wasn't an accident - it was a rescue mission, for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army and it's waking up!"

"We need to get out of here. Fast!" Everybody silently nodded at River's statement but was interrupted by the voice coming from Octavian's radio.

_"It's Bob, sir. Sorry, sir."_ Amber felt herself breathe a sigh of relief as she heard Bob's voice over the radio. She had been worried about him when he went off but he had convinced her he would be okay; he was with the others.

"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active. I repeat, all the statues are active!"

_"I know, sir. Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir."_ Amber froze once again when she heard that and as she heard the Doctor say that the Angels never killed like that she grabbed the walkie-talkie off Octavian and began speaking to Bob.

"I'm talking to-"

"Shut up you idiot! You have no idea how much danger he is in at the moment!" With that Octavian stopped talking but he still glared at Amber while she talked.

"Hey Bob its Amber, this is important! I need you to get back to us okay? There are Angels everywhere but they're slow so if you hurry, you can make it."

"_Yes Ma'am, I'm homing in on you now."_ Amber smiled with relief when she heard that.

"Good, good thinking. I'm gonna pass you over to the Doctor but remember to keep walking, run if you can just – just get back here and when this is over I can get the Doctor to let you see your family for a little while okay?"She didn't wait for an answer, only passed it over to the Doctor who began asking questions.

"Well done, Bob. Scared keeps you fast, told you, didn't I? Your friends, Bob, what did the Angel do to them?""Snapped their necks, sir." Bob told them. Amber winced and seeing this, the Doctor took hold of one of her hands and rubbed circles on them. Amber smiled thankfully at him.

"That's odd. That's not how the Angels kill you, they displace you in time. Unless they needed the bodies for something." At this point Octavian pulled the walkie-talkie towards him and asked something that Amber didn't walked closer only to hear the end of the conversation.

"…how did you escape?"

"_I didn't escape, sir. The Angel killed me, too."_ Everybody looked at each other in confusion but Amber paled as she realised what had happened.

"What do you mean the Angel killed you too?" He asked slowly looking worriedly at Winter who had turned as white as the season.

_"Snapped my neck, sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected but it was pretty quick, so that was something."_ They could almost hear the nonchalance in his voice.

"If you're dead, how can I be talking to you?"

_"You're not talking to me, sir. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion."_ Amber felt like she was going to be sick. That _thing_ was using her friends voice as if it was something bought in a shop! _He was a person, a living human being and you killed him! _

"So when you say you're on your way up to us..."

_"It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes."_ Again Amber felt like she wanted to throw up but she held on. She would make it through this and somehow she would help Bob's family; someway somehow they were going to be able to live comfortably even if she had to give them the money herself.

"So there's no way out." The Doctor murmured worriedly.

"Then we get out through the wreckage. Go!" Everyone followed the orders and quickly made their way through the exit into the next section and the Doctor encouraged it.

"Go, go, go. All of you run!" He called out to them. Amber turned to look at him waiting for him to follow.

"Go, I'm coming." She nodded and ran after River who was still a good deal in front of wasn't watching where she was going through and as she was running she tripped over a small dent in the floor. As she fell she caught onto a ledge that was next to her managing to stop her face from hitting the cold stone floor barely before it breathed out a gasp at how close she was to the floor but then brought herself up.

Suddenly she felt something cold and dead flow over her and her head felt a little dizzy. She went to put her hand to her head to stop it but found – for some reason she couldn't hand wouldn't move!It was like she couldn't even feel it any more.

Amber frowned through the dizziness and looked down at her hand and what she saw scared her like never before: Her hand - a hand that she had known all her life was now made of hard stone!It didn't even feel like rock coloured flesh, it felt smooth and grainy and HARD! Panicking Amber once again tried to move it, this time using her other hand to pull but nothing was she saw the Doctor run past her.

"Don't wait for me! Go!" He shouted to her.

"I can't!" She screamed back. This made the Doctor stop and run back to her.

"Why not?"

"Look at it. Look at my hand. It's stone!" The Doctor took out his Screwdriver and his torch and examined it once before flashing the light in her eyes and examining it. Amber automatically flinched at the brightness, squinting to keep as much of it out as possible.

"You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you?" He asked looking over her again with the torch.

"I tried not to, honestly but by the time you told me not to I already had." She whispered. The Doctor put down the torch and put his hands on either side of her face making her look him in the eyes.

"Listen. It's messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone." He sounded so sure that Amber almost trusted him but when she looked at her hand again she saw the stone that covered it.

"But it is!" She said again trying to convince him.

"It's in your mind. I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go."

"I can't!" She told him firmly. "I've tried before, it won't budge!"The torchlights began to flicker around them, an indicator to the Angels that were coming ever closer towards them.

"The Angel is gonna come and it's gonna turn this light off, and then there's nothing I can do to stop it. So do it, concentrate, move your hand!" He told her. He didn't want to scare her but Winter needed to move and she needed to move now. He would apologise later of he had to but for now…

"Look do you think I _want _to die here? Let me assure you that I don't but I have tried Doctor! I've tried but my hand won't move because it's stone!" He opened his mouth to talk but she clapped her other hand over it. "And I'm not going to let you die here either. Not when you have all these people to save and not when you have all that stuff to do with River so you need to go. Now!"The lights began to flicker on and off faster now and the Doctor began to get desperate

"Winter, please. You can move your hand. It's not stone!" He urged her.

"Those people up there will die without you. If you stay here with me, you'll have as good as killed them and I am _not _going to let you do that!"

"Your hand is not made of stone! You _can_ move it!" He told her loudly.

"No I can't!" The lights flickered again but this time they could both see the Angels coming closer to them with each flicker. "I can't move it but you need to leave, now Doctor!" He looked at her and could see it in her wasn't going to budge, he knew it, she knew it and more importantly, he knew that if she believed that he could save the others then she _would _die so they could live.

She was fine with it but the problem was, he wasn't. If Winter died, then the Doctor may as well let the Angel snap his neck because there was no possible way for him to live without her. It had happened once, and he never wanted to go through it again. Nothing, _nothing_ was going to happen to her if he had his say about it!

"I know. You never would. Which is why I'm sorry that I have to do this…" She looked at him, there were tears in her eyes as she thought about what she was going to do, but in the end she didn't care. The Doctor would get them out.

"I know. But you need to go now."

"Oh no, I'm not leaving you. Never! I'm sorry about this." And in a flash of a second, he bent down and bit Amber's hand – not hard enough to leave a mark but enough for her to feel the sting.

"You bit me!" She said loudly, cupping her hand in her other and examining it closely for bite marks in the light.

"Yes but you're alive." He told her whilst gently tugging on her hand.

"But you actually _bit _me!"

"You hit me with a cricket bat." He reminded her. This time, her pulled her harder and she began running with him.

"But you broke into my house. It was completely justified."

"You tied me to a _radiator! _A radiator – who does that?" She frowned at the back of his head but didn't try to hit him. Besides, he was still holding her hitting hand they reached the rest of the group, Amber practically collapsed against one of the sides. The Doctor however, did not. He got straight to work on trying to figure out a plan.

"Clerics, we're down to four men. Expect incoming." Amber heard Octavian tell everyone in his group.

"Yeah, it's the Angels. They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves." The Doctor told him.

"Which means we won't be able to see them."

"Which means we can't stay here." The lights began flickering again and everyone looked towards the entrance, dreading a glance of and Angel."There are more incoming!""Any suggestions?" River asked the Doctor out loud. Everyone including Amber looked at her as she joined the now three way conversation.

"The statues are advancing on all sides and we don't have the climbing equipment to reach the _Byzantium." _Amber bit her lip and looked at the Doctor. He usually had an escape plan by now.

And it seemed River thought so too because she voiced Amber's thoughts to him. "There's no way up, no way back, no way out. No pressure, but this is usually when you have a really good idea."

"There's always a way out." His voice echoed through the walls. _Oh please don't let that be his only answer, _Amber prayed silently.

_"Doctor?"_ The radio sparked to life. _"Can I speak to the Doctor, please?"_

"Hello, Angels." The Doctor answered sounding almost cheery. "What's your problem?"

_"Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir." He doesn't sound very sorry at all. _Amber thought.

"Why are you telling me this?"

_"There's something the Angels are very keen Miss Amber know before the end."_ Amber's head shot towards the radio at the sound of her name and then she looked up to the Doctor.

"What's that?" The Doctor asked slowly, cautiously into the radio.

_"My family won't survive."_

"What?" The Doctor asked. He was interrupted when he heard a huge sob from behind him and he turned around to see Winter cover her mouth with her hand and begin to shake her head.

_"I'm dead and without the money I supply, my family will be tossed to the wolves."_ Amber let out another sob as she heard the next words. _"You said I could see my family again, that I'd be happy. You told me to trust the Doctor and I'd survive but you were wrong. I died in vain."_

One of the Clerics looked at the scene in front of him. It made no sense and he wanted to find out what was happening.

"What are they doing?" He asked the person next to him which happened to be River.

"They're doing something incredibly dangerous. They're making Amber upset."

_"I'm sorry, sir. The Angels were very keen for her to know that."_

"Well then, the Angels have made their second mistake because you've just upset a person very dear to me. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier." There was a fire in his eyes now. Anyone could see it and each cleric stared at each other in worry.

Whatever happened in the future, they knew that if anyone ever upset the woman sitting on the floor, there would be no mercy_."But you're trapped, sir, and about to die."_

"Yeah, I'm trapped. Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great big, whopping mistake!" He was confident, and if there was one thing Amber had learned about the Doctor, it was if he was confident then whoever was in his way had better watch out.

_"What mistake, sir?" _The Angel asked over the radio.

"Do you trust me?" He asked the bishop.

"We have faith sir." Octavian answered truthfully. The Doctor smiled and walked over to River asking her the same question.

"Forever." She answered the Doctor turned to Amber. He wiped her eyes and stood her up, holding her hands in his.

"Do you trust me?" He asked smiled gently at him and looking into those blue-green eyes she had come to love she whispered her answer.

"With my life."

"Right, give me your gun." He said pointing to Octavian. He did so slightly confused. _"_I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do..." he jumped in place, "jump."

"Jump where?" Octavian asked.

"Just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Bishop." He grabbed Amber's hand and held onto it tightly. "On my signal."

"What signal?"

"You won't miss it." The Doctor aimed the gun at the Gravity Globe and Amber's eyes widened as she realised what his plan was going to be. Quickly she shut her eyes and held her other hand onto the Doctor's jacket.

_"Sorry, can I ask again? You mentioned a mistake?" _The Angel asked.

"Oh, big mistake. Huge. There's one thing you never put in a trap, if you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap."

_"And what would that be, sir?" _The cavern was silent for a minute, everybody waiting for the signal, wondering what was going to happen and as Amber risked opening her eyes, she saw the Doctor smiling a sly smile.

"Me!"

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**Ooh I love this episode, and the next one. BTW, after this, things are gonna change a lot so if you get confused, just PM me. Oh and dont forget to review ok?**


	6. Chapter 4 part 1

**Here it is guys, hope you like it. Thanks to readers who read and dont review and a special thanks to Guest (sorry, didnt know your name but if you have questions, PM me), my good friend Brownbug, new comer JayceeJade, and ToxicSoap04. Thank you for all your support and for liking/lovining my story, it means the world to me and guess what? 11 reviews for the 11th Doctor ;)**

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**Flesh and Stone **

Immediately after jumping as hard as she could Amber felt gravity shift and bring her back down to the ground again. It _seemed_ pointless but she had meant it when she had told the Doctor she trusted him; he was the most remarkable man she had ever met.

The Doctor was still holding on to Winter's hand when they had jumped and when he looked at her he noticed she still had her eyes shut. _That won't do, _he thought and shook her shoulder slightly. "Up! Look up!"

**"**You ok?" River asked her as Amber opened her eyes and looked up as the Doctor had told her to do.

"Yeh, but what happened?" She asked. "Did your plan work?" The Doctor grinned and pointed upwards. When she looked up again she noticed they weren't where they used to be; in fact the ceiling looked completely different. "Where are we?"

**"**We jumped." River told her but she was still slightly confused as to _where _they had landed.

**"**Jumped where?" She asked. "And before you say look up," she pointed to the Doctor, "I already know where not where we used to be cause the ground feels different."

**"**Move your feet!" He told her and she did so. He sonic-ed something at her feet and Amber looked up again.

"Nope. You're going to have to give me a little more to go on." She told him folding her arms over her chest.

"Oh, come on, Winter, think!" She punched him in the arm. "Ow! Sorry. The ship crashed with the power still on, yeah? So what else is still on?" Amber thought for a moment, looking up at the ceiling again.

She thought: _what is it? It's on the tip of my tongue._ She saw the Doctor open his mouth and she ran over and clamped her hand over his mouth to stop him talking. "Hush! I've almost got it!" From the corner of her eye she saw River smile largely.

_Come on, come on. Ship crashed. Power still on. Come on physics, don't let me down now…Aha!_"The artificial gravity is still on so we needed to get high enough for it to be able to register us. That was why you shot the gravity Globe! To give us that boost!" When the Doctor nodded she grinned broadly at the prospect of figuring it out.

Unfortunately, Octavian decided to put a damper on her happiness as he informed the Doctor what he could see. "Doctor. The statues, they look more like Angels now."

"They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage, draining all the power from the ship, restoring themselves. Within an hour, they'll be an army!" Just as he said that two things occurred; 1) the hatch in the bottom of the ship opened and 2) the lights began flickering again. "They're taking out the lights." He said. "Look at them, look at the Angels. Into the ship, now, quickly all of you!" Without thinking Amber followed him, not realizing there was a drop. Before she could gasp or scream she found that she had fallen on her feet.

"Hah, I'm like a cat." She said grinning.

"It's just a corridor. The gravity orientates to the floor." He told her grinning as well. "Now, in here, all of you. Don't take your eyes off the Angels. Move, move, move!"

"OK, men, go, go, go! The Angels, presumably they can jump up too?" Octavian asked the Doctor slightly worriedly. The answer was given to him when the door suddenly slammed closed once they were all in there.

"They're here. Now. In the dark, we're finished. Run!" They turned to run out the door behind them but it too closed in front of them effectively blocking them from their only escape thus trapping them.

"This whole place is a death trap." Octavian said.

**"**No, it's a time bomb. Well, it's a death trap and a time bomb. And now it's a dead end. Nobody panic." Amber turned to look at him, glaring in the process.

"That is _not helping_!" She hissed to him. She jumped as a bang sounded from outside. She felt her heart race as she realised that it was the Angels trying to get through the door.

**"**Oh, just me then." He said realising that Winter was trying to keep from hyperventilating as she clutched hold off his jacket. "What's through here?" He asked out loud. It was River that answered.

"Secondary flight deck."

Something suddenly occurred to Amber. Something worrying. "I don't mean to worry anyone with all that's going on but uhh…Doctor…what happens if the gravity fails?"

"I've thought about that." He told her hurriedly whilst trying to open the door.

"And?"

"And we'll all plunge to our deaths. See. I've thought about it. The security protocols are still live. There's no way to override them, it's impossible." Amber gaped at him and at the thought of becoming a pancake. It was _not_a pleasant idea.

**"**How impossible?" River asked bringing her back to the conversation.

"Two minutes." The hum of the engines powered down and their way in had reopened. Looking out they could see the cavern outside.

"The hull is breached and the power's failing." As he said it the lights went out. Suddenly the arm of an Angel could be seen through the door.

"Sir! Incoming!" A Cleric shouted.

**"**Doctor! We need lights." Amber shouted. The Doctor used the sonic to help River. The lights came on briefly and they saw an Angel making its way inside. The lights went out again and when they came on they were brighter. There were now four Angels where there had only been one_. _

**"**Clerics, keep watching them." Octavian ordered.

"And don't look at their eyes. Anywhere else. Not the eyes. I've isolated the lighting grid. They can't drain the power now." The Doctor told them.

"Good work, Doctor."

**"**Yes. Good. Good in many ways, good you like it so far..." Amber's head cocked to the side at that.

"So far?" She asked him timidly, not sure she wanted the answer to the question.

**"**Well, there's only one way to open this door. I guess I'll need to route all the power in this section through the door control."

"But doesn't that mean…"

"I have to turn off the lights. All of them." Amber bit her lip and frowned. This was not good. It was the opposite of good; it was bad, very, very bad.

"How long for?" Octavian asked him. The Doctor wasted no time in answering.

"Fraction of a second, maybe longer. Maybe quite a bit longer." That was not the answer Octavian wanted to hear. If he was honest – and he always tried to be – he would have preferred to not have to turn the lights off at all.

"Maybe?"

"I'm guessing. We're being attacked by statues in a crashed ship; there isn't a manual for this!" He had begun to worry, and to panic but there was no way for Amber to help except be there.

"Doctor, we lost the torches. We'll be in total darkness." River told him from where she was.

"Wait!" Amber called remembering the small light she kept on her key chain. She always had it, it was a necessity. "I have a small light here…" She took it off the key chain, getting it ready and making sure it still works.

"There ya go! But that's the only source of light there'll be. No other way. Bishop?" There really was no other choice but it still seemed like the choice hung with Octavian.

**"**Dr Song, I've lost good Clerics today. You trust this man?"

"I absolutely trust him." She said confidently. Amber smiled at her gently, looking at the Doctor she noticed he was smiling at her as well.

"He's not some kind of madman then?" Amber's eyes widened. _Oh dear._

"I absolutely trust him." Amber would have laughed at the look of both River and the Doctor's face as she said those words. She would have…but there was impending death on their doorstep. Literally. The Doctor excused himself and began working on the panel again but Amber stayed behind and listened.

"I'm taking your word, because you're the only one who can manage this guy. But that only works so long as he doesn't know who you are. You cost me any more men, and I might just tell him. Understood?" Amber frowned, trying to piece together what that may have meant but no matter how she put it, it didn't make sense.

**"**OK. Doctor, we've got your back." He said but Amber couldn't get her mind off the conversation she had over head mere seconds ago.

"Bless you Bishop." He then called Winter over to him. Before she went she handed the torch to River who stood in her place. "Winter, when the lights go down, the wheel should release. Spin it clockwise, four turns."

"Ten."

"No, four, four turns."

"Yeah, four, I know, I heard you." She took her place at the door and waited for her signal still thinking about what Octavian had said to River.

"On my count then. God be with us all. Three... two...one." The lights went out but Amber could see her flashlight go on. "Fire!"

Amber heard her signal and began turning but it was harder than she thought and had to push even harder. She heard River's voice barely over the gun fire, she pushed harder. "It's opening, it's working."

She climbed through the hole and looked back waiting to see who would follow. River followed after then the Clerics, Octavian and the Doctor. They moved down a similar corridor to another door. The Doctor held the door open with the sonic as the others went through.

"Doctor, quickly." River and Amber shouted together. They watched as the Doctor ran to join them and the door closed as soon as he was through it. Amber sighed in relief. That was too close for comfort.

When they got to the control deck, the Doctor immediately went to one of the controls. Amber watched him interestedly. "What are you doing?"

"Magnetized the door. Nothing could turn that wheel now." Octavian told them all. The Doctor looked at the door and then Octavian. It was as if he was silently saying _you-wanna-bet? _The Wheel began turning behind them. "Dear God!"

"Ah, now you're getting it! You've bought us time though, that's good. I am good with time."

"Doctor!" He span around to see that another door wheel was turning.

"Seal that door. Seal it now!" _Yeh like that's gonna help. _Amber thought to herself and just like she predicted, it didn't. They were now trapped with nowhere left to run. Things were not looking good for them. "Doctor, how long have we got?" Octavian asked.

"Five minutes, max." The Doctor looked at Winter worriedly. "Five." He said again. This time she repeated the number he said. "Why'd you say nine?" He asked her.

**"**I didn't." She said looking at him with confusion. What was he talking about? She had said five…hadn't she?

**"**We need another way out of here." River shouted to the Doctor.

**"**There isn't one." Octavian told her harshly.

**"**Yeah, there is, course there is. This is a galaxy class ship, goes for years between planet-falls. So…" he snapped his fingers, "what do they need?"

**"**Of course." River exclaimed. The Doctor snapped his fingers again and Amber looked between the two of them feeling thoroughly confused.

"Once again, human brain here. What would they need?" She asked them both.

"Can we get in there?"_ Great! Even Octavian knows what it is they 'need.'_

**"**Well, it's a sealed unit, but they must have installed it somehow. This whole wall should slide up." The Doctor pressed against the back wall. "There's clamps. Release the clamps!" He pointed his sonic towards the wall and activated it.

"What's through there? What do they need?"

**"**They need to breathe." The door rose and Amber looked through it – almost not believing what she was seeing. Seeing her reaction, the Doctor couldn't help but smile at the awe-struck look on her face.

"But that's... That's a..." She trailed off not quite knowing what she was looking at. It looked like a forest but…having a forest on a spaceship…it was unheard of. _Traveling with the Doctor is just getting weirder and weirder. _

**"**It's an oxygen factory." Explained to the girl, smiling happily at her.

"It's a forest!" She exclaimed in childlike wonder and amazement. There were literally trees everywhere she looked through the door.

"And, if we're lucky, an escape route." The Doctor told them all. Amber just carried on staring at it in amazement. _Wow. Just…wow!_

"What did you say?" River asked Amber, frowning slightly.

_Is she talking to me? _Amber wondered. She decided she was, and answered the question. "Nothing."

"Is there another exit? Scan the architecture, we don't have time to get lost in there." Octavian nodded and motioned to his Clerics to go into the 'oxygen factory.'

"Stay where you are until I've checked the Rad levels." He told them.

"No but trees! There are _trees _on a space ship?"

"Oh, more than trees, way better than trees." The Doctor began. "You're going to love this." He went through the door and opened a section of the moss to show intricate designs of circuitry. "Treeborgs. Trees plus technology. Branches become cables, become sensors on the hull. A forest sucking in starlight, breathing out air. It even rains!

" There's a whole mini-climate. It is an eco-pod running through the heart of the ship; a forest in a bottle, on a space ship, in a maze." He turned to grin at her. "Have I impressed you yet, Winter Swann?

She chuckled at his antics. _Of course you have! You impressed me on the first trip._"Seven?" He asked joining her back on the flight deck.

**"**Sorry, what?"

**"**You said seven." He told her. The Doctor walked up to her, staring at her intently – examining her.

"No, no I didn't." Amber said, confused.

River who had been watching the pair intently frowned largely. "Yes, you did." She insisted gently but neither her nor the Doctor had time to say anything else because at that moment Octavian's voice could be heard.

**"**Doctor! There's an exit, far end of the ship, into the Primary Flight Deck."

**"**Good, that's where we need to go."

"Were plotting a safe path now." But he wasn't paying his full attention to the words being said by the Bishop. Instead, he was still studying Winter closely.

_"_Quick as you like!" He told him, still not paying attention.

Then, a new voice sounded through the air**. "**_Doctor? Excuse me. Hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir."_

The Doctor tore himself away from Winter and sat down in one of the vacated chairs, radio in hand. "Ah there you are, Angel Bob. How's life? Sorry, bad subject."

_"The Angels are wondering what you hope to achieve."_His soft voice came from the radio. It was one thing Amber could not understand; why keep the soft tones of the voice when the Angel was stalking - hunting them?

**"**Achieve? We're not achieving anything. We're just hanging. It's nice in here, consoles, comfy chairs, a forest. How's things with you?"

_"The Angels are feasting, sir. Soon we will be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel, this world, and all the stars and worlds beyond."  
_  
"Well, we've got comfy chairs, did I mention?" _What?_

_"We have no need of comfy chairs."_ _What?_

**"**I made him say comfy chairs!" _okay, fine that was slightly funny. _ Amber thought whilst laughing at the Doctor.

Something suddenly changed.

The Doctor stood quickly and his voice changed from sort of light, to business like. "Okay, well, enough chat. Here's what I want to know: what have you done to Winter?" He asked harshly.

**_"_**_There is something in her eye."_Panic began to creep over Amber and the Doctor could see it slowly happening, as much as she tried not showing it, the fear was in her eyes.

**"**What's in her eye?" He asked.

_"We are!"  
_  
Panic turned onto full blown fear as Amber heard the last sentence uttered. What was going on? There wasn't anything in her eye. But still, she needed…something. "What's he talking about? Doctor, I'm five." Everyone stared at her and she realised what she had just said. She tried to amend it. "I mean five. Fine! I'm fine."

**"**You're counting." River told her softly.

**"**Counting?"

"You're counting down. From ten. You have been for a couple of minutes." She bit her lip and looked at him. She could feel her heart racing, feel her breathing become shallow.

**"**Why?"

**"**I don't know." _Oh that is not good! Very, very bad!_

"Well, counting down to what?" She asked trying not to shake.

**"**I don't know." Amber swallowed. What was she going to do? The Doctor hardly ever didn't know something and when he did he played it off. But he wasn't this time.

**_"_**_We shall take her."_ The Angel said over the radio. _"We shall take all of you. We shall have dominion over all time and space."  
_  
Sitting down with her spoke into the radio again. "Get a life, Bob. Oops, sorry again. There's power on this ship, but nowhere near that much." The Doctor's voice hadn't changed at all from the cold tone he held. The Angels were doing _something_to Winter and whatever it was, they were going to stop it!

**_"_**_With respect, sir, there is more power on this ship than you yet understand."_

A horrible screeching sound filled the air. It was loud enough that even covering their ears had not effect and for a second, Amber was reminded of a teacher raking her nails down a blackboard.

"Dear God, what is it?" River asked over the noise. All at once, the noise stopped and there was a ringing silence that followed.

_"It's hard to put in your terms, Dr Song, but as best I understand it, the Angels are laughing."  
_  
**"**Laughing?" The Doctor and Amber said together. _The question isn't what the sound was; it was what have we missed so that they're making the sound?_ As the Doctor wondered, he felt a shiver come up through him.

_"Because you haven't noticed yet."_ There was a certain amount of glee in its voice which made the people in the room feel sick to the stomach. _"The Doctor in the TARDIS hasn't noticed."_ A flashback sounded through Amber's voice:

_'The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know…'_The sing song voice of the Atraxi played through her mind and as she remembered what it was talking about she gasped. She gasped because there, on the wall next to the Doctor, a white-blue light was slipping through a tiny crack that seemed to be getting bigger with each second.

"Doctor!"

**"**No, wait, there's something...I've..." Slowly he turned to where Amber's eyes were looking and saw the crack. "…missed.

"That's... That's like the crack from my bedroom wall from when I was a girl." Amber whispered.

**"**Yes." He remembered that crack alright. _'Two parts of space and time that should never have touched.'_

**"**OK, enough, we're moving out!" Octavian shouted drawing everyone's attention back to the problem at hand.

"Agreed. Doctor?" She asked.

"Yeah. Fine!" He told her whilst using his Sonic on the crack.

**"**What are you doing?" River asked him slightly worried. He could get so into something and the next thing he knew, he was about to be killed.

**"**Right with you." He muttered nonchalantly.

**"**We're not leaving without you!" Amber told him fiercely.

"Oh. Yes you are. Bishop?" Amber felt someone pull on her and she struggled against it but the grip was too strong. When she turned around she expected to see Bishop or one of his Clerics but it wasn't. It was River! _Dear God that woman is strong!_

She tried one more time. "Doctor, come on!" but she was pulled into the forest quicker than she could say 'fish fingers and custard.' They pulled her into the forest making sure she was okay before going off to do something else.

Then something went wrong.

River, who had been looking at Amber intently, noticed she had begun slowing down. She looked sickly, almost white, and her skin began to look papery and thin. "Amber?" She called, walking over to her and gripping her arm. "Amber, what's wrong?"

She said nothing so River asked again. "Amber, what's wrong?" This time her voice showed her worry.

"Four." Amber was aware she had said something this time, though she didn't know why. All she knew was that there was a blinding pain in her head and she felt like she was going to throw up.

She folded in on herself – hoping it would lessen the pain.

"Med-scanner, now!" She faintly heard River call but then that was it. It was like everything around her had become muffled; she couldn't hear anything properly.

All she wanted to do was curl up into herself and fall asleep. She wanted the Doctor to hold her closely but she didn't know why. A small part of her was calling out for him to be near her but until that happened, she wanted to sleep.

She closed her eyes for a mere second but then terror flew through her. _No! Don't sleep! It isn't safe to close your eyes!_ She groaned and snapped her eyes open, this time trying to keep them open.

Unaware that this was going on, River's anger was flaring up. "Father Octavian, when the Doctor is in the room, your only mission is to keep him alive long enough to get everyone else home. When he isn't, your sole purpose is to keep Amber alive and trust me. It's not easy.

"Now, if he's dead back there, Amber will never forgive me, and if he's alive, I'll never forgive him. And, Doctor, you're standing right behind me, aren't you?"

**"**Oh, yeah." He said amused. It didn't bother him that River knew; she always had it seemed. When he had first met her, she had told him not to worry, that it was alright to feel that way about her, and he had never told her, but he thanked her for it with all his hearts.

_"_I hate you!" She growled to him.

**"**You don't. Bishop, the Angels are in the forest." He said going to Amber's side.

**"**How did you get past them?" River asked him, pausing to look between the two of them.

**"**Found a crack in the wall and told them it was the end of the universe."

**"**What was it?"

**"**The end of the universe. Let's have a look then." He picked up the medical scanner River had left beside her and checked it. He felt his hearts drop to his stomach. "Winter? Winter can you hear me?" He asked checking her eye.

"Doctor why isn't she responding?" River asked. When she had looked at Amber, it was like she could see her, but she couldn't; like Amber was looking through misted glass.

"I don't know." He took out his Screwdriver and aimed it at her, using it as a more developed med-scanner. He pulled it back and looked at the results. "Oh Winter. What have they done to you?" He whispered, stroking her hair softly.

"What? What's wrong?"

"The Angel has taken over her. It's killing her but it's also preventing her from being able to hear _anything_. Why?"

"Three." He heard her whisper. He focused on her again, thinking as hard as he could as he felt her heart rate slow down further.

"Doctor!" River exclaimed noticing what was happening to her via medical scanner.

"What's the matter with Winter? Something's in her eye. What does that mean? Doesn't mean anything." He frantically thought, holding on to her hand and stroking her hair with the other. "What happened? She stared at the Angel, she looked into the eyes of an angel for too long..."

**"**Sir! Angel, incoming!" A Cleric shouted but the Doctor didn't even bother looking.

"Come on, come on, wakey, wakey! She watched an Angel climb out of the screen. She stared at the Angel and…and..."

**_"_**_The image of an Angel is an Angel."_ His head snapped up. That was Winter's voice…but she couldn't hear him…could she? Ignoring it for the meantime he carried on thinking out loud.

"A living image in a human mind. We stare at them to stop them getting closer, we don't even blink and that's exactly what they want, cos as long as our eyes are open, they can climb inside. There's an Angel in her mind!" He heard River gasp from behind him but all he could feel was blind rage.

He looked into her eye and sure enough, there in plain sight, there was an Angel staring back at him.

"Two." Amber felt like she was going to die. No, she didn't feel it, she knew it. She was going to die unless the Doctor found a way to save her in time. Focusing on him as much as she could, she listened in on what he was thinking.

"Now counting, what's that about? Bob, why are they making her count?"

"To make her afraid, sir."

"OK. But why? What for?" Her persisted.

**_"_**_For fun, sir."_

The Doctor growled in frustration and threw the radio into one of the bushes. He didn't want to listen to anything the Angel said from that moment on.

**"**Doctor?" River was looking between the two worriedly.

"Inside the vision centres of her brain, there's an Angel." He went to sit next to Amber, once again holding her hand. "It's like there's a screen, a virtual screen inside your mind, and the Angel is climbing out of it, to kill her."

**"**Then what do we do?" She asked him.

_"_If it was a real screen, what would we do, we'd pull the plug. But we can't just knock her out, the Angel would take over!"

**"**Then what? Quickly!"

**"**We've got to shut down the vision centres of her brain. We've got to pull the plug, starve the Angel."

"One." They both looked at her and the Doctor grinned.

"That's it! I'm right so the Angels speeding up the countdown!" He knelt beside her and took her head in his hands, resting his forehead onto hers.

**_"_**_Winter, close your eyes!" _

**_"_**_No, no, I don't want to." _She moaned back to him telepathically.

**_"_**_Good, because that's not you, that's the Angel inside you, it's afraid! Do it! Close your eyes!" _He could feel her hesitation, but then a moment later he could feel the absolute trust she held in him. She trusted him to be right, and so she took a leap of faith.

The Doctor felt her force her eyes shut and the monitor beside her began beeping at a normal speed._  
_  
"She's normalizing." She sighed in relief. _"_You did it! You did it!"

**"**Sir? Two more incoming." They heard a Cleric say.

"Three more over here." Another shouted.

**"**She's still weak, dangerous to move her." River told them putting the scanner away.

Amber sat up slowly, "So, can I open my eyes now?" She was appalled at how shaky her voice was and she frowned at herself for showing a weakness.

_"_Winter, listen to me. If you open your eyes now for more than a second, you will die. The Angel is still inside you. We haven't stopped it, we've just sort of...paused it. You've used up your countdown. You cannot open your eyes!" She nodded at him, thinking about the absolute fear he had felt for her to be in that position just a few seconds ago and she wondered…she had felt the Doctor's mind. She had been given a small glimpse of the wonderful things he had done. But then she had also seen some of the most horrible.

But the strange thing was that Amber found that she didn't care what he had done. The Doctor was the Doctor; an amazing, brilliant spectacular man but like everyone, he had a darker side and just like everyone else, he had given into it before.

But that was the point. So had everyone!

She was brought back to the conversation when she heard her name…well sort of her name being mentioned. "…stay here Winter?"

"What?" She asked keeping her eyes closed but turning towards the Doctor's voice. "I do not want to stay here!" She told him firmly.

"You'd slow us down, Miss Swan." She turned towards Octavian and frowned at him.

**"**Or the opposite would happen and you lot would speed me up." She almost hissed. She felt someone move and sit next to her and take her hand.

"You'll be safer here." It was the Doctor. "We can't protect you on the move. I'll be back for you soon as I can. I promise."

"You said that last time." She said quietly. "And you were late."

"But I came back. I always come back." She felt him let go of her hands_. "_Good luck everyone. Behave. Do not let that girl open her eyes. And keep watching the forest. Stop those Angels advancing. Winter, I will be back, I promise."

"Yeah. Later." She said dejectedly. She began to fidget nervously, she didn't want to be left alone, and she wanted to stay with the Doctor. She didn't even have River with her. She felt someone move a small strand of hair from her face and she turned to whoever it was.

"I didn't thank you for trusting me so completely did I?" It was the Doctor, he was back but…there was something different about him. Amber couldn't put her finger on it, but something about him seemed...not off just...more.

"You don't need to." She said truthfully. "I'll always trust you."

"I know…and maybe you shouldn't." She was about to say something to stop him but he carried on. "Winter, you need to do whatever you have to protect yourself okay? Don't worry about me, just…stay alive."

"What do you mean?" She asked confused.

"You won't understand yet, but you will. Just remember that everything will turn out right in the end."

"How do you know?" She whispered.

"Trust me. I'm the Doctor." With that she felt him kiss her on her forehead and move away leaving her more confused than ever.

"Wait a minute Doctor. Doctor? Doctor?" Only silence answered her.

Boredom that rivalled watching football with her cousin spread through Amber and she was seriously contemplating going to sleep to rival it but that would be bad; something could happen and if she was half asleep as well as blind…that wouldn't be a good thing. "So, what's happening? Anything happening out there?"_ Better to ask and know than be oblivious. _

"The Angels are still grouping." One of the Clerics said. _I think his name is…Matthew? _She decided to ask.

"Uhh, what's your name?"

"Marco." _Oh, not Matthew. Oh well, it began with 'M.'_

While she was temporarily bind, she noticed that her other senses became sharper. She could hear rustling and behind her lids, the colour changed from light red to a darker one.

"What's wrong with the trees?" Amber asked. The Clerics looked at her and then between them. She was smart, and she was observant and they had a feeling that they couldn't lie because she would be able to figure it out.

**"**They're ripping the Treeborgs apart." Another Cleric answered.

"They're taking out the lights." _Oh crap!_ That was not good. No light equalled no-see and no see meant the Angels could attack, and Amber wasn't sure what had happened to the flashlight.

Somewhere further up in the forest, the Doctor, Octavian and River were conversing. "It doesn't open it from here, but it's the Primary Flight Deck. This has got to be a service hatch or something." Octavian told them.

**"**Hurry up and open it, time's running out." River said rushed.

**"**What? What did you say? 'Times running out', is that what you said?" Something about that sentence was making him stop and think.

"Yeah. I just meant..."

"I know what you meant, hush! But what if it could?" Bits and pieces were all coming together and they were only forming a bigger piece of a puzzle, and the Doctor hated it when that happened.

**"**What if what could?" River would have sighed if it made any difference. The only person who could keep up with him when he was like this was in another world. And even then, she sometimes had trouble understanding him too.

**"**Time. What if time could run out?"

**"**Got it!"

Back in the clearing, they were not having as good luck as then Doctor was. "Angels advancing, sir." A Cleric Amber didn't know the name of said.

**"**Over here, again."

**"**Weapons primed. Combat distance five feet. Wait for it!" Marco ordered. He momentarily looked over towards Miss Swann and noticed that she was looking everywhere. He assumed she was trying to figure out what was going on but at the moment, there was nothing she could do to help.

**"**What is it? What's happening, just tell me!" She shouted from where she was.

**"**Keep your position and, ma'am, keep your eyes shut!" Amber huffed. There was nothing she could do to help and it sounded like the Angels were getting closer. Then she heard him say something else. "The ship's not on fire. Is it?"

_"_It can't be." Someone answered. "The compressors would have taken care of it. Marco, the Angels have gone. Where'd they go?"

"Hey! Oi! Where have the Angels gone?" Amber asked. They ignored her.

**"**This side's clear too, sir."

"Dude! Where have they gone?" She practically shouted. Still, they didn't answer her.

Marco read over the hand held, looking at the information it was giving them. "There's still movement out there, but away from us now. It's like they're running."

**"**Running from what? Because if the _Angels _are running, then maybe we should too!"

**"**Phillip, Crispin, need to get a closer look at that. " Amber assumed that the two Clerics Marco had called to had begun to head towards whatever was there but she couldn't be sure.

**"**What are you all looking at? What's there?"

In the clearing outside the primary flight deck, the Doctor was putting the pieces together slowly in his head. "Cracks in time, time running out... No, couldn't be. How is a duck pond a duck pond if there aren't any ducks? And she didn't recognise the Daleks! OK, time can shift. Time can change. Time can be rewritten. Ah! Oh!"

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it. One more chapter and then it'll be original chapter. Yay!**


	7. Chapter 4 part 2

**Warning, this one will be very different to the original version. Have fun reading it and tell me if it was realistic. Oh and thanks to ToxicSoap04 (love the name by the way) for reiviewing, and to everyone who has read, favourited or followed this story. **

* * *

**Flesh and Stone Part 2**

Amber was still waiting for the answer to her question. It seemed though, that Marco didn't want to tell her what the 'light' was but Amber knew that whatever it was, it wasn't a good thing. Finally he decided to tell her. "It's like; I don't know...a curtain of energy, sort of shifting. Makes you feel weird, sick."

**"**And you think it scared the Angels away?" She asked worriedly. The others though didn't seem to hold her worry in their minds, only relief.

**"**What could scare those things?"

A feeling of dread reached over Amber as she remembered something that had been described to her once before, something that couldn't possibly be here, but it was. "Marco, I need you to look closely, does the light look…blue-white? And does it come out in a crack shape?" She couldn't look, she only had mere fractions of a second on the countdown left but she could use other people's eyes.

She waited anxiously as Marco looked for what she described. "Yeh, the light is sort of that colour and…" He paused for a secon that seemed to take minute's in Amber's mind. "Now that you mention it, it does look like a crack."

Fear.

Worry.

Curiosity.

They were the three things that Amber was feeling in that moment. "It's following me." She whispered. "How can it be following me?"

She fell to her knees, she hadn't even realised she had been standing. But not seconds later, she felt Marco's hands helping her stand back up again. "Are you OK?" He asked.

**"**No." She whispered.

The second Cleric, seeing Marco helping Miss Swann asked, "Marco, you want me to get a closer look at that?"

"Go for it. Don't get too close." He told the other Cleric, still holding Amber up.

"Hang on, no, wait. What about the other two? Why not just wait 'til they're back?" She asked.

"What other two?" Marco asked her somewhat worriedly.

"The ones you sent before."

"I didn't send anyone before."

"Yes. You did. I heard you. Crispin and Phillip." She told him trying to remind him – though, she didn't know why she should be, he had only sent them a few moments ago.

**"**Crispin and who?" Now he was worried. Miss Swann must have hit her head somehow. She could have a concussion – or something else.

"Dr Song, get through, now." He ordered while helping her through the hatch. "Doctor? Doctor?"

He was figuring something out, trying to calculate it and using the air to write it down. "Time can be unwritten."

"Miss Swann, there never was a Crispin or a Phillip on this mission, I promise you." He told her gently but she was still shaking her head. Marco could feel the small tremors of her body through her clothes. He didn't know what to do, he wished the Doctor or River where there.

"No, I heard you. Before you sent Pedro, you sent Crispin and Phillip, and now you can't even remember them." She began shaking as she realized a possibility. "Something happened. I don't know what, and you don't even remember!"

"Pedro?"

"Yeah, before you sent Pedro." She faced him, eyes still shut and

"Who's Pedro?" Amber froze. It had happened again.

The Doctor smacked his head as he realized what had been happening all along. "It's been happening and I haven't even noticed!"

"Doctor, we've have to move." Octavian urged him but the Doctor only ignored him.

"The CyberKing! A giant Cyberman walks over all of Victorian London and no-one remembers. The Daleks move the planet across the sky and Winter can't remember them!"

"We have to move it! The Angels could be here any second." He tried to snap him out of it, and it was usually physical contact that worked but the Doctor shrugged it off.

"Never mind the Angels." He said. "There's worse here than Angels!"

Suddenly the lights flicker off and on and the Doctor turned to see an Angel wrapped fiercely around Octavian. "I beg to differ, sir." He told him.

"Let him go." He demanded to the Angel, but of course, nothing happened.

"Well, it can't let me go, sir, not while you're looking at it."

"I can't stop looking at it, it'll kill you." He felt guilty, guilty and angry for Octavian. The Angel was here and there wasn't anything that he could do to help him but then, the Angel didn't need to kill Octavian – but it was going to anyway.

"It'll kill me anyway. There's no way out of this. You have to leave me!" A flash of a memory of only an hour ago when Winter had said the same thing, but just like then, he didn't want to leave.

"Can't you wriggle out?" He asked desperately.

"No. it's too tight. There's nothing you can do."

"Something's happening! Pedro was here a second ago and now you can't even remember him!" But then why can I?

"There never was a Pedro. There's only ever been the two of us here!" Marco was seriously worried about the girl now. He suspected that she had some serious brain damage from something because she thought that there had been more of them when there hadn't.

"No, there were five of us. Why can't you remember?" She was practically begging now. If she could, Amber would have fallen on her knees and prayed to God that Marco was playing a sick joke on her but she knew he wasn't. she could hear it in his voice that he really had no idea what she was talking about.

"Listen, listen. I need to get a closer look at that light, whatever it is. Don't worry, I won't get too close." He told her trying to get her to calm down but what he said only made it worse.

"No, you can't! You mustn't!" She cried.

"Here, spare communicator." He pressed the device into Amber's hand and smiled at her, though she couldn't see it. "I'll stay in touch the whole time." He promised her.

**"**You won't. If you go back there what happened to the others will happen to you!"

**"**There weren't any others!" He insisted once more.

"Okay fine, but if you go back there then there won't be any _you!" _She was pleading to him ,trying to find the survival part of him that would make him stay.

"Two minutes, I promise." He told her.

Amber could feel him get up and begin to leave. _No, don't! _She thought. _There has to be something!_ A thought suddenly came to her and she acted upon it. "Marco I swear to _God_ that if you leave me I'll open my eyes!" She shouted. She heard the footsteps stop for a second and she continued. "I will, I swear. Would you like to be the one to tell the Doctor that it was you're fault that I'm dead?" The footsteps started again, but this time, instead of becoming quieter, they were becoming louder.

Amber breathed a sigh of relief as she heard him sit down next to her. "You…you are going to be hard work Miss Swann." He said tiredly. Apparently, threatening people with the Doctor worked. She wasn't proud of it but…it worked. He was here and he was alive and that was all that mattered.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Amber asked Marco. She had been sitting with him in silence and only now did she really wonder what was happening.

"We should stay here and wait for orders." Marco told her.

"What about the Angels? They're not going to wait." As if to prove her point, rustling sounded through the forest. Amber jumped and turned to where the sound was. It was so tempting to open her eyes, to look for the sound.

A part of Amber was laughing at the irony; a few hours ago, she was trying to do everything to keep her eyes open. Now she was doing everything to keep her eyes shut. It was almost as hard to do.

"Miss Swann, why does the Doctor call you Winter?" Amber frowned. _That was a sharp turn off the track. _

"I – I don't actually know. He – I told him that name when I first met him. I didn't completely trust him but…I did at the same time." She bit her lip and continued. "Truth be told I don't really know why he does."

They sat there in silence, both thinking about what Amber had said. It was obvious to Marco that there was something going on between the two of them, but what was it. From what he had seen, the Doctor would do anything for Miss Swann but she didn't seem to see it.

Their thoughts were interrupted when a voice crackled over the radio. "Winter? Winter are you still there?"

"Doctor?" Her voice showed her happiness.

**"**Where are you? Are the Clerics with you?" Amber handed the radio to Marco and he began to speak to the Doctor.

"I'm here sir." He told him.

"Good, good, but what about the others?" he asked. Amber froze and held her hand out for the radio and grabbed it when she felt it being pressed into her hands.

"Doctor he doesn't remember. The others…they went off into the crack and then Marco didn't remember them."

"No. He wouldn't." He told her solemnly.

"What is that light?" River asked. The expressiom

**"**Time running out. Winter. I'm sorry. I should never have left you there." She could hear how sorry he was, he didn't have to tell her.

**"**Well, then, what do I do now?" She asked worriedly.

"You come to us. Primary Flight Deck, other end of the forest. Marco," the man in question raised his head waiting for instructions. "Make sure she stays safe."

"Yes sir!" The Doctor had a feeling that he had just saluted but he couldn't deal with that now.

"Where do we have to go?" Amber asked. He could hear rustling and assumed it meant she was standing up and getting ready for whatever instructions were coming her way.

"Turn on the spot." He told her pointing the Sonic at the radio. If he could just…Yes!

"Okay I've done it, now what do I have to do now?" He heard her through the radio. He prayed to whatever God was out there that that Cleric would keep her alive, but if he didn't…if something happened to him then there was a precaution.

**"**When the communicator sounds like my screwdriver, you're facing the right way." She listened to the comforting sound, she couldn't wait to be back safe and sound with the Doctor. "Now, it's only a precaution in case something happens to Marco but it's there." She listened and turned till it sounded like his Screwdriver.

**"**You and Marco have to start moving now! Just follow the sound." Amber could hear the nervousness in the Doctor's voice. It coated it and turned the usually comforting voice into something that tugged at Amber's heart. He was scared.

"Doctor…what is that light? What is it going to do if it catches up to us?" It was following them, it had to be; there was no light when they were first in the forest and now there was.

The Doctor gulped and his voice went horse. "The energy, it's time energy. If it catches up to you…you would have never have been born. I wouldn't even remember that you had existed." His voice was horse and as River looked at him, she saw there were tears threatening to spill over.

Marco took a hold of Amber's hand and he began pulling her hand, holding on to it tightly. "I won't let that happen sir." He said truthfully.

"Thank you." He heard the man say softly.

Slowly, the two began to make their way through the forest. It was darker than Marco remembered, but then that could be because his only company was a girl that couldn't see and a bunch of murderous monsters that wanted to kill them.

"You know…" Amber began. "I don't think I thanked you have I Marco?"

"It was my pleasure Miss Swann." He told her softly. Amber turned her head towards him, she couldn't remember what he looked like, she had been too worried about the Doctor and Bob and River.

Her heart sank as she remembered the kind man. "Was he a good man Marco? Was Bob kind?" She asked roughly.

"He was." He said. "Bob was thought of as…the younger brother. Everyone looked out for him when we were on missions, we tried to help him if he needed it and we comforted him when he missed his family. But never once did he complain when the Bishop was harsh on him. He just stood there and took it, using it to try and make himself a better solider and a better Man of God."

The Doctor could hear everything they were saying through the radio. Winter was clutching it so tightly that she didn't even realise she was holding down the transmitting button.

He could hear the tears in her voice as she talked to Marco, getting him to tell her about himself to pass the time and in return, telling him about her.

The fear never left her voice though, and that was what drove him to keep going. "She'll be fine," he heard River say. "You know about Amber – what she's capable off. Amber can handle herself well enough."

"But it doesn't mean she should have to!" He shouted. "She's in danger, because of me! She's always in danger because of me and I'm too selfish to let her go!" He didn't deserve her, he shouldn't have taken her.

He could have stopped what had happened if he had only just _left her_ at her home once he realised where he had crashed, in whose garden he had crashed in. It wasn't a coincidence that the TARDIS had crashed there; she had been drawn to Winter. But it didn't mean that he had to come back for her.

Twice he had been given the chance to stop himself! Twice! _But_, the Doctor realised, _I was selfish!_

"But would she be able to survive without you? Because I know that you can't without her. I've seen it happen. Once. Only once. But in that one time, you were both shown how your life would be without each other and the pain you went through-" she shuddered at her thoughts but then turned to the Doctor. "I know what you're thinking Doctor, but it won't work."

_"_What else can I do River? Tell me!" He shouted.

"What was that?" Amber asked nervously. Something had rustled, something had moved and it had sounded close. She clutched on to Marco harder, one hand on him, one on the radio.

The lights flickered and Marco brought up his gun protectively closer to him. "Miss Swann, I need to let you go for a moment. The Angels are close."

Frantically, Amber began shaking her head. "No, please don't!" She begged, but unlike the last time, this time he didn't listen. Marco let her go and brought his gun up to eye level.

"I'll be back soon Miss Swann, just stay here." Marco turned towards where he had heard the Angles and walked slowly. Always keeping his gun poised and ready for the slightest movement.

In theory, the Angles couldn't move when someone was looking at them. It had been proven again and again, and it had worked well for the large group that had been walking through the forest. But now, the large group, who had many eyes, were down to one pair and no matter how much he tried, Marco wouldn't be able to watch out for all the Angels. He understood this and was aware of the danger he was facing but he had made a promise to both the Doctor and Miss Swann.

And so, when Amber heard rustling through the woods, she turned in its direction. She couldn't open her eyes, she couldn't help. And it was killing her on the inside.

And then, out of nowhere, she heard a loud snap and a thump and she knew it could only mean one thing.

"Marco!" She cried. No answer came. It was only solidifying her thoughts on what had happened. Marco was dead!

Amber turned in all directions. In her sorrow she had lost the way she was meant to be going and now she had nowhere to turn. "Doctor! Help me!" She cried into the radio.

She could feel the tears building up behind her eye lids. "Winter! What happened?" She heard his voice.

"Marco – the Angels – he's…" She couldn't hold it in any longer. She let the tears flow and she had a feeling that these weren't going to stop.

"Winter – Winter please, calm down." She only carried on crying; the sobs making it hard to breathe. "Winter I know…I know but you need to calm down a little." She took shaking breaths and managed to stop the sobbing but she could still feel the tears leak down her face.

"Okay, I'm sending a bit of software to your communicator. It's a proximity detector; it'll beep If there's something in your way. You just have to manoeuvre till the beeping stops. Because this is important Winter.

"The forest is full of Angels and so you're going to have to walk like you can see. You need to use the software as if it was your eyes."

"Won't they kill me?" She asked him, tears making her voice break in at the end.

On the flight deck the Doctor was fighting the instinct to just go and look for Winter himself but it wouldn't help her; if he could just fix the teleport…

But he couldn't do that at the moment; he had to be there for Winter. "The Angels are focusing on the time energy spilling out. They're not going to be noticing you. Their instinct will kick in and they'll assume that you can see them.

"H-how do we stop it?" She asked him.

"Feed it." He wasn't going to tell her, he couldn't tell her. She would start to freak out more and it wasn't a good time to be doing that.

"Feed it what?" It was River that asked that now.

He wasn't thinking when he answered her, he was trying to find a way to bring Winter to him quicker. "A big complicated space-time event should shut it up for a while."

**"**Like what, for instance?"

He turned to her, furiously shouting. "Like me, for instance!"

Amber could hear the Doctor over the radio.

He was panicking.

Sure, she could hear the shouting but it was because he was scared for her. He didn't want her to be here and in all the time she had known him, he had only shouted at her once – he had been so sorry for the Star Whale and what he had to do to it.

Winter sucked up a deep breath. She had to be strong right now, because if she wasn't then the Doctor would be even worse. "Doctor," she called. "Doctor?"

"Winter?"

"It's not River's fault." She told him softly. "It's not hers and you know it. Now you have to calm down. You can't think properly until you calm down." She heard him take a deep breath and she smiled to herself.

It didn't last long because she heard the software the Doctor had sent begin to activate which could only mean one thing: there was an Angel very close to her.

Amber's breath hitched slightly and she stopped. She moved around until she couldn't hear the beeping anymore and started walking again. She slowly walked forward and turned again only to hear the beeping speed up once more. Fear flew through her and she changed direction and moved forward. All seemed to be in the clear. There was no more beeping so she assumed she was safe. But then she tripped.

Amber felt herself fall. What was probably only a couple of seconds felt like years to her when she eventually made contact with the floor.

A soft 'umph' fell from her lips and the shock caused her to gasp. While this happened, she felt the communicator fall out of her hands.

Her heart began racing as she tried to find the communicator. "Doctor, I can't find the communicator! I dropped it! I can't find it. Doctor!" She kept feeling around in the dirt. "Doctor..." She heard rustling behind her; the Angels were moving.

And then suddenly, the doctor's words flew through her head. _'Winter, you need to do whatever you have to protect yourself.' _His words flew around her brain, giving her guidance when she needed it most.

As she stood up, a small part of her wondered if perhaps the Doctor knew. It would make sense, but then…it wouldn't.

She batted the thoughts away. She needed to prepare herself, and according to the count down, she had less than a second to pull this off. Amber took a deep breath and raised her hands. She could feel the energy begin to rise up around her, cackling with intensity.

She focused and imagined a huge ball of orange light. The Angels were stone – or at least their shells were, and if they were completely gone then there wouldn't be a physical presence. Their conscience would wither away with nothing to hold on to it.

Amber felt a smile grow as she sensed the energy come to its full power. She only had one shot, and for that, she needed her eyes to be open.

A breath.

Amber's eyes snapped open and she flung out her arms. The Light raced forward and the last thing she heard before passing out was a shrieking, one that rivalled nails on a chalk board.

The flash of white light that indicated the teleport had worked was bright. River grinned triumphantly waiting for it to clear, waiting for Amber to appear. And as she expected, Amber was there when the light cleared but something wasn't right.

When the light cleared, Amber wasn't standing like she should have. She was lying there her hands limp, her eyes closed and her lips parted. Fear flashed through River and she did what any doctor would do. She checked for any sign of breathing.

Relief flooded through her as she found the small thrumming pulse. It was weak, but it was still there. "Doctor!" She called out for him and he came running. "Winter? Winter!" River shook her slightly, but it didn't seem to work. "What's wrong with her?"

The Doctor soniced her and examined the readings. As he read it, his face paled and he shook his head multiple times. "What did you do?" River looked between him and the girl worriedly.

"Doctor what happened to her?"

The Doctor looked at her. "She used it! And she must have opened her eyes, the Angel has taken over her mind and she's trying to fight it." He shouted.

"But it's Winter, she can overcome it."

"No. It's too early on in her timeline. The Winter you know has already discovered her mental barriers and she can use them. But she doesn't even know what's going on with her at the moment!" Just as he said it, Amber began moving slightly.

Suddenly she shot up and looked around, her eyes wide open but instead of her crystal green eyes, there were stone grey pupils looking at the both of them. She looked at them and a cruel smirk came from her lips. "Oh, this is interesting."

Her voice wasn't her voice, it had a ring to it but also a sort of gravely sound. "She really shouldn't have opened her eyes."

"Let her go! Let her go NOW!" The Doctor shouted using his Screwdriver to examine what was happening to her.

"Now why would I do that?" The Angel moved over to another corner of the room, further away from the doctor. "This body has so much potential energy, I could feast on it for eternity and there would still be spare."

"Because if you don't, I will get you out and find a way to _destroy_ you, painfully and slowly." The Doctor promised. River looked at him shocked; never before had she seen the Doctor like this in all her travels with him.

He always gave them a chance. Always. But now, the man she was seeing wasn't her beloved Doctor, he was the Oncoming Storm, and she feared for the Angel in Amber's body.

The radio cackled and Angel Bob's voice came through it. _"The Time Field is coming. It will destroy our reality."_ He told him._ "There is a rupture in time. The Angels calculate that if you throw yourself into it, it will close and they will be saved."_

"Yeh? And why should I help you? Give me one good reason to because I'll tell you what Angel Bob, your Angel has taken over my BondMate's body and that leaves you in a very dangerous place." The Doctor was now physically shaking in anger. The rage overtaking him and clouding his every thought.

_"Your mate will be released."_

"Well, that's a pretty good reason." The anger was still there but there was now the potential to save Winter and he would do anything in his power to do that.

River, knowing how the Doctor thought stepped up to him. "I've travelled in time. I'm a complicated space/time event, too. Throw me in." She pleaded.

"Oh, be serious! Compared to me, these Angels are more complicated than you and it would take every one of them to amount to me, so get a grip."

The Angel in Amber giggled to herself. The humans were fighting over who would save the girl? Well she wasn't going to let it go so easily. She liked this body, she could move whenever she wanted and oh how delicious it's energy was…

"Doctor, I can't let you do this." River told him, angrily pleading. He needed to save Amber, but he had to be there when she was at her worst.

"No, seriously, get a grip."

"You're not going to die here!" She persisted.

Frustrated, the doctor cried out to her. "No, I mean it. River, make sure Winter is safe and get a grip!

Instantly, River understood his plan and nodded, running over to Amber. "I hope you enjoyed your stay." The Angel looked at River confusedly. That was until River punched her in the face. Mentally, she apologised to Amber and began tying her up quickly to a railing with some rope that she had brought with her.

_"Sir, the Angels need you to sacrifice yourself now."_

The doctor had been watching River, making sure that Winter was safe enough. Once he was sure, he answered the Angel over the radio. "Thing is, Bob, the Angels are draining all the power from this ship, every last bit of it. And you know what? I think they've forgotten where they're standing. I think they've forgotten the gravity of the situation. Or to put it another way, Angels..." He grinned slightly. "Night-night."

As the gravity failed due to the loss of power, the doctor found something to grip himself. The deck turned to its side and the doctor an River hung on desperately, both making sure that Amber was still there whilst the Angels were sucked into the crack. In a burst of light, the crack in the secondary flight deck closed.

The Doctor sat with Amber waiting for her to wake up. River had a _very_ good right hook – he knew from experience – and though he was upset that she had hurt Amber, he was also grateful to her for keeping Amber safe.

Yet again he had brought her into trouble. He should have taken her back home after the Star Whale incident but once again, the doctor found he couldn't stomach the thought of his Winter leaving him. Even if it meant that she would be safe…he just couldn't do it.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Amber groan. Clutching her head, she lifted it slowly from her lap. "Oh god I feel like I've been hit with a train." She said groaning loudly.

The Doctor chuckled slightly, "that's River Song for you. She has a very powerful punch." Amber's eyes went wide at the realisation.

"She punched me?" She shouted. "How the hell do I not remember that?" She watched as the doctor's face fell slightly and she wondered what she had said.

"The Angel in your mind took over when you opened your eyes – which was a very stupid thing to do by the way! What did you do that for?" She rolled her eyes at his annoyance but didn't answer. How could she? She didn't even know what the thing was, so how was she supposed to explain it?

Instead, she asked him a question. "Are the Angels all gone?"

"Yeh." He told her sighing at her diversion. "The Angels all fell into the time field. The Angel in your memory never existed. It can't harm you now."

"Then why do I remember it at all? I thought the crack erased everything from existence."

"You're a time traveller now. When you travel in the TARDIS, it changes your perception slightly so you look at the world through different eyes. Things you wouldn't be able to remember are as clear as day." She nodded slowly at his explanation. After all, the TARDIS was amazing, so why wouldn't it be able to do something like that?  
"What about the crack? Is that gone too?"

"Yeah, for now. But the explosion that caused it is still happening... somewhere out there, somewhere in time." A distant look came over his face and so Amber took his hand in hers. The doctor looked down at their hands and smiled at her before pulling her gently up and going over to River.

"You, me...handcuffs." She held her hand out, showing them to the two. "Must it always end this way?"

**"**What now?"

"The prison ship's in orbit. They'll beam me up any second. I might have done enough to earn a pardon this time. We'll see." She sail almost longingly. Amber smiled sadly at her.

"Octavian said you killed a man." Amber told her softly.

"Yes. I did. A good man, a very good man. The best man I've ever known." Amber's eyes flashed to River's and then they shifted to the Doctor. _She can't mean him can she? She wouldn't. _

"Who?" The doctor asked, suddenly worried about Winter's safety. It was only for a second before he discarded the thought. _River treated Winter like family. She couldn't hurt her. _

"It's a long story, Doctor, can't be told. It has to be lived. No sneak previews. Well, except for this one: you'll see me again quite soon, when the Pandorica opens."

**"**The Pandorica, ha! That's a fairy tale."

River laughed heartily. "Oh, Doctor, aren't we all? I'll see you both there."

"We look forward to it then." Amber told her, smiling with the blond.

"And I remember it well." The Doctor chuckled at her antics and turned to walk away, holding his hand out for Amber. She held up her finger indicating one minute to him and he nodded before walking back to the TARDIS.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Oh Amber, I'm someone who you'll come to know very well but I'll need you to do one thing for me. Remember them." She asked softly, all humour gone instantly.

"Remember what?"

"Remember the Ponds." A beeping sound came from the handcuffs and River's seriousness vanished, replaced by her smile again. "Oh there's my ride." She turned to leave but Amber stopped her.

"Can I trust you River?" She asked.

"Oh you may not now, but you will soon. Goodbye Amber." River walked away and Amber was left there thinking over what she had just heard and trying to sort out what didn't make sense. _Why will I need to remember ponds?_ She wondered. But soon she shook it away and made her way back to the TARDIS.

Amber and the doctor sat in the console room. Well, Amber sat, the doctor began tinkering with things as soon as he got to the room. But still, Amber smiled at him as he worked on stuff that she highly doubted was _actually_ broken. "So, where to next?" She asked happily.

The doctor stopped working while he looked at her. "Nowhere. And it's not often I say that, but you need to go to sleep." She frowned and pouted at him seeing as it had worked before. "Nope. That look isn't going to work on me right now. You need to sleep Winter, otherwise you'll collapse. Again!"

"Hey!" She cried. "That was not my fault! River punched me." She stopped for a minute. "Oh God she punched me! Me! And then she just _walked off._ How did she get away with that? Oh the next time I see her I am going to-"

"Okay you're rambling." The doctor said leaping off the console and pushing her towards her room. "That's it. You need to get to bed now before you fall asleep in this spot."

"I will not." She replied indignantly, trying to fight off a yawn.

"Yes you will." They had reached her door and the Doctor opened it and pushed her inside. "Lie down Winter." He said pointing to her bed but Amber didn't move. She looked at the bed and then at the Doctor.

In truth, she knew she was going to collapse any moment – it had happened to her before – but she just couldn't bring herself to sleeping. If she closed her eyes she would see the Angel's face and would only wake up screaming.

"Doctor please…I – I won't be able to sleep. If I sleep I'll…" She trailed off before looking up at him. "Can you stay?" Softly the doctor sighed and nodded. She climbed into her bed and he sat next to her on a chair. "Don't – don't leave me." He nodded and he stroked her hair softly and began humming out a lullaby his mother used to sing to him when he was a child.

Slowly, Amber felt her eyes shut and very soon she was fast asleep and the doctor sat there looking at her sleeping. Slowly, he lifted his hand and pressed a kiss to it, before touching it to her head. _I'm sorry…_he thought before walking out the room.


	8. Chapter 5

**Ah here we go, the next chapter. It's whole so you know what that means. Yay.**

**Anyway, thamk you Brownbug for reviewing (x2) and to all those who read, favourite and follow my story. Cheers mate. **

* * *

**A Good Mistake**

"Okay, so where are we going now?" Amber asked looking at the Doctor. "I mean, we've stopped earth being incinerated twice and destroyed a load of murderous Angels all the while I have been almost killed for most of those things." She leaned on the counter and looked at the Doctor.

"Yes well it was a learning experience. Oh and don't forget about the Starship UK, there was that one too." He reminded her.

Amber smiled and walked over to him before leaning on his shoulder slightly. "Yeh but it was me that figured that one out remember?"

"It's seemed to have slipped my mind." She rolled her eyes at the Doctor's antics before walking over to the wardrobe. "Would it be too much to ask to go somewhere where we don't end up almost dying? Oh we could go to Fiji or maybe Rio. That would be awesome; I've always wanted to go there." She looked at the Doctor. "What do you think doc? Fiji or Rio?"

"Neither, I know where we should go; the planet Androsa Major. It's known for its beauty and it's a rather peaceful planet. Hasn't had a war in ten thousand years." His eyes sparkled with excitement at the prospect of taking Amber to a new planet. He loved the look that always came on her face when she saw a new planet.

"Androsa Major? And you promise that someone won't try to kill me this time?" She asked seriously. The Doctor had a habit of taking her places and they would always get into trouble; whether it was something trying to kill her, the Doctor or Earth and almost always it meant she had to run as fast as she could. Amber had lost a good 3 stones since she had been with the Doctor because of all the running and frankly she blamed the suit he wore.

"Cross my hearts and hope to regenerate." She laughed and walked over to the wardrobe again looking through the clothes but she had no clue what the weather would be like in Andros.

"What should I wear?"

"Something for warm weather." She nodded and walked into the wardrobe looking through all the clothes for something she would like. "Oh, and it may be a little windy as well." The Doctor added.

"Okay then. Something for warm weather with a hint of wind proof." She murmured to herself. She looked through the wardrobe for a good five minuets before she found something she liked enough to wear it; it was a purple top with silver curls weaving in and out of each other with golden leaves on it too, there was a black skirt that went up to her knee and ruffled out at her thigh. Underneath were a pair of purple tights and a pair of black suede low heeled boots. She topped it off with a white cardigan, bangles and a little bit of eyeliner. Her hair was out and curled into the natural waves that had formed in the shower the previous night. Over all Amber thought she looked good and stepped out of the wardrobe.

"There you are, you took your time." Amber rolled her eyes at him and in a childish manner stuck her tongue out. Then the Doctor seemed to notice what she was actually wearing. "You're very dressed up." He looked at her now properly, noticing that every time he looked into her eyes he felt a warm feeling in his stomach. It had been like that for a while now, ever since Song had found her way onto the ship and they had found the Angels._While he knew that he loved her, he found that ever since the Angels his feelings had increased, and it seems to have been by tenfold, along with the urge to always protect Winter._

It explained why every time she had been in danger his hearts felt like they were going to jump out of his chest or why, when the Angel had climbed into her mind and had been killing her from the inside, had felt so much pain whenever she said she was going to die.

"Well it's not everyday that I travel to another planet." She thought about what she just said, "scratch that, it's not true anymore and anyway it's not my fault that wardrobe is like a maze. So are we there yet?" She asked excitedly. She was looking forward to having a break. Not that she didn't like saving the world on a daily basis - in fact she loved it - but sometimes she just wanted a normal day.

"Yep were here." He walked over to the door and stood by it, hand on the door handle. "Winter, welcome to Andros." He opened the door and she gasped. Outside was the most beautiful planet she had ever seen. There were flowers everywhere, and they were all different colours. The sky was a light purple colour and the clouds were white but also had hints of other colours too. The trees were very much like the ones on earth but the bark was a silver colour. In the background was what seemed like to Amber, a kingdom.

"Wow, that…that's…I'm speechless." Was all she could say at that moment in time? Her mind was still trying to process what she was saying.

"It's beautiful isn't it? There isn't a more beautiful planet anywhere and the people take pride in it but let's not just stand around here, let's go into the town." He grabbed her hand feeling the spark again and pulled her behind him. She laughed and followed him into the village but before they got there, she stopped and looked at the park and the little waterfall that was there in the middle of the field of flowers.

Feeling her stop the Doctor turned back and looked to see what had happened. "Come on, let's go see." Now it was her pulling him. They walked up to the small waterfall and looked into it just to see what there was. Amber saw the water rippling and sighed. There at that moment, it seemed like there was nothing more magical than being there with the man that she loved._ Love? _As soon as she thought the word, realization swept over her. At first it was just that he had taken her away from the horror that was her life and shown her the wonders of the Universe.

That in itself would have spawned feelings of gratefulness at least from a person. The Doctor would take her to see worlds and somehow they would always get in trouble. She had been in her fair share of life threatening positions before she had travelled with the Doctor but now…it seemed there was no end to them. It didn't matter though, because the Doctor would always be there to save her.

Amber wondered if that was how it started; he took you to see the impossible and from there, somehow – amongst the stars, the planets, the aliens, the Doctor would do something or say something and that was it. Feelings of gratefulness turned into something else. In retrospect, she thought, it must be impossible to end up not loving the Doctor in one way or another. And yet, if she was asked Amber wouldn't be able to explain it to anyone other than herself. But while it was one thing to be able to say it in her mind, it was another to say it out loud – even if she was only 80% sure of her feelings._ No, I – I can't say it yet. He'll send me back home and I can't leave him!_

"It's beautiful isn't it?" A voice asked her, breaking Amber's inner argument. She spun around and noticed that there was a woman in a white floor length dress standing in front of her smiling at them. Amber nodded in answer. She had red hair cascading down her face in loose curls and her eyes were a shining shade of blue that rivalled the water from the waterfall – yet there was something young and ancient at the same time in them.

"Hello, who are you?" The Doctor asked getting straight to the point. Amber rolled her eyes at him and hit him in the back of his head.

"Excuse him;" she said as the Doctor groaned and rubbed the back of his head. "It's been a long time since he's met anyone that hasn't tried to kill him recently so he's a little rusty on manners. Hi, I'm Amber Swann and this is the Doctor."

"Hello Amber, I'm Serafina. You know, the waterfalls of Androsa Major are known for both their healing qualities and their knowledge of the future."

"Really? You mean they actually heal people?" She asked fascinated. All those possibilities to heal the people on Earth and they were in that pool.

"Yes it does. You are a strange human Amber Swann." Her head cocked to the side slightly.

"I've been told so by a lot of people." She said smiling.

"Yes but many would ask about their future only you seem to not want to know it. Why is that?" She asked. "Ohh umm, I guess I just like surprises." The Doctor smiled, that was what she had told him when he asked her where she wanted to go. She had said to 'surprise her' and he hoped he had. "Hmm, well I hope you enjoy it here on Androsa Amber, but before you go, here." She handed the Doctor a corsage and he took it and thanked her and then she left.

"Well that was interesting." The Doctor said looking at the woman moving off into the distance.

"Yeh, and apparently, I am a very strange human. Who knew?" Amber shrugged her shoulders. The Doctor grinned, looking at her.

"I could have told you that," Amber hit him in the arm but not that hard trying not to smile but she couldn't help it.

"So what do you think? Should we go explore the town?" She asked.

"Yeh but first," he took the corsage and brought out her hand towards him. Amber held her breath as he put the brightly coloured bracelet onto her wrist and then kissed her hand gently. "There, a beautiful flower for a beautiful girl." Amber blushed and lowered her head before reaching up and touching the flower that now rested in her hair.

"Oh, congratulations," an old woman said before smiling at the two of them. "Err…for what?" Amber asked her. "The marriage of course." Both people starred at her, shock coloured their features and they just stood there staring at her. The Doctor was the first to snap out of it. "What do you mean marriage?" He asked her slowly. A confused expression came to the old woman's face. "You mean you don't know?" Both shook their heads, "Oh, well the customs of Androsa states that if the male partner takes the Flower Of Eden and gives it to their partner and she accepts, a marriage bond is formed, one that is irreversible."

"How does she accept?" Amber asked cautiously, "I mean, what has to happen?"

"The Flower of Eden must be presented to the female and to accept it, she must allow the flower to touch her skin." The woman looked at the pair happily, smiling at them joyfully but Amber couldn't make herself do it. She was too scared of the Doctor's reaction.

"What you mean that there isn't any way to reverse this? Isn't there like a…divorce council or anything?" Amber asked. _Why are you asking that? Isn't this what you want? To spend a lifetime with the Doctor?_ The voice asked her. _Yes but this is going too quickly, he doesn't know._ She argued with the voice.

"No."The word was firm and full of the smallest traces of disgust. "Marriage is a sacred thing on Andros. Once you have made the bond you can not reverse it, it bounds the soul forever. The only way to reverse it is if one of you dies." As if on cue a burning sensation shot through Amber's right arm but it was the hottest around her wrist. She gasped in both pain and in shock and clutched her arm to her in attempts to stop the pain but I didn't help.

After a few seconds though, the burning lessened and she looked at her wrist to see a ring of intricate loops and swirls in and out of each other right where the corsage had been and if she looked closely she could see the outline of the word 'Hope and Elation'. Amber gasped again still looking at her wrist but then she looked over at the Doctor only to see that he was looking at his left wrist.

When she looked at his wrist she saw almost the same design only this one had leaves and small roses blooming and Amber could see the words 'Freedom and Love' on his wrist.

"It is now completely irreversible. Those tattoos are your connection to each other's soul. Memories, feelings and thoughts will now be shared." The woman rolled back her sleeve and Amber saw the tattoo on her.

"So…you're married?" She asked her. The woman nodded and smiled.

"Yes, I've been married for 40 years." She smiled fondly and rolled the sleeve back. "It's been a good marriage and the High Priestess blessed our as well." The Doctor's head shot up and he looked at her.

"What?" He asked. He had been quiet. Scarily quiet and she was starting to worry about him.

"The High Priestess, she was the one that gave you the flower wasn't she?" He nodded, "well if she was the one that gave you the flower then she must have thought that you two were a good pair. Her giving you the flower means that she blessed your marriage."

"Right, well where can we find this High Priestess?" The Doctor asked looking at her earnestly.

"She lives right on the edge of the Silver Forrest." She pointed them in the direction and the Doctor thanked her before taking off in the direction. Amber ran behind him as fast as she could. _Why am I not surprised that were running again? Oh well, at least I put on low heeled boots today._ She thought with an eye roll. As they got closer to the edge of the forest hey saw the outline of something that looked like a hut and as they got closer they saw that it was a rather large bungalow.

"Huh, not somewhere….you would expect a…high priestess to live." Amber panted leaning on a tree and trying to catch her breath but the Doctor had already gone right ahead and knocked on the door. The same woman – Serafina – answered the door smiling at us.

"Hello, we have some questions for you." The Doctor stated rather bluntly in Amber's opinion. Serafina motioned for the both of them to come in and closed the door behind them when they had both gone in.

"Hello again Amber, Doctor." She nodded her head at the both of them. "Please, why don't you sit down? I know you have a lot of questions to ask me and I assure you I will but first." She motioned to the chairs that were around a table. Amber went and cautiously sat down but the Doctor stayed standing and assessed the situation trying to find the possible exists if things started to get bad and so far he saw only one and it was the same one that they had come through.

"I understand how you feel Doctor but I promise you that no harm will come to you or your mate while you are here." The Doctor stood for a moment more before nodding slightly and sitting down.

"Yeh, uh that's one of the things that we wanted to ask you. How are we married?" Amber asked her. "I mean I know how, but I mean _how_? We are two different species, wouldn't it like…. I don't know…cause some sort of hole in the universe or something?" She asked. Serafina smiled at her.

"You said you know what has happened yes?" They both nodded and she continued, "Who told you?"

"Uhh…we don't really know. There was a woman there when you left and she explained some things to us like the binding of the soul and all that but still it would be nice to know what happened." Amber said somewhat reluctantly. Serafina smiled and nodded before explaining. "The Flower of Eden is a sacred flower, not only in Andros but in many other planets as well however it only grows here."

"The Flower of Eden? As in Adam and Eve and the garden?" Serafina nodded at her question and continued.

"Yes, the flower is from the garden and so is special. From the age of five all high priestesses' are required to be able to understand it's magic and even still very few can. The flower if read properly can also show the souls of other and therefore it can also show soul mates." She looked pointedly at the two and noticed that Amber wouldn't look at the Doctor.

"When I saw you two standing by the waterfall, the Eden gave off a light so brightly that there was no mistaking it, and I had only heard of this happen once before between a couple: Jessica and Michel."

"That must have been the woman we met." Amber said quietly, "she said that their marriage had been blessed by the high priestess too." Serafina smiled thinking about it. "I must have been them then."

"So because a flower glowed brightly then you thought you could just marry us?" The Doctor asked, finally speaking. "You don't realize what you've done. Winter can't marry me; it's too dangerous for a Timelord to marry a human."

"But she is no longer completely human." Serafina said quickly. The Doctor stared at her for a moment before looking at Amber.

"Of course she's human, what else could she be?" He asked her angrily.

"She's changing." Serafina said simply.

"What? I'm changing into what?" Amber asked. _Panic erupted from inside Amber. How was she changing? What was she changing into? It doesn't make any sense._ "It can't be; I'm just a normal _human_ girl from America. Granted bad things have happened to me but I'm still human!" Amber was standing now, somewhere along that rant she had managed to stand up so now she was towering over Serafina.

"I know what you have been through Amber Swann and I know that no person should have gone through that but believe me when I say that you are not ordinary and you are most defiantly not human anymore, at least not completely but then…you have never been fully human." Serafina stood up from her chair.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked shakily. This woman couldn't know; she hadn't told anyone. Not even the Doctor about what had happened to her in those years after the Doctor had left.

"A couple married under the Eden flower share their partner's life." Serafina explained. Both people looked at her shocked at what they had just learnt and momentarily, she smiled as they seemed to have forgotten about the question she had asked. They would find out in due time. "The tattoo's on your wrist are what's in your heart of hearts, what you truly need."Amber looked at hers and then felt Serafina's hands on hers. "Yours, Amber says 'Hope and Elation'. It means you have brought hope and happiness into the Doctor's life; what he needed the most." She turned to the Doctor and took his hand. "And yours says 'Freedom and Love'. "That is what you brought to Amber when you took her with you all those months ago. You both have been blessed with a great gift: a chance at love. Not many are given this gift so treasure it and keep it safe with all your hearts."

Amber sat on her bed back in the TARDIS. They had left after Serafina had told them all she thought they needed to know and now they were floating somewhere in space again. Amber fond herself tracing the tattoo absently she was thinking about everything Serafina had told her but mostly about the fact that she was now an alien. _What am I going to do? It was bad enough how it was before I met the Doctor but now I have all these powers and the lifespan of a Timelord. _ _It was hard enough when I lived on Earth with all that I had seen before I travelled the universe. It'll be near impossible now._ _Amber_ sighed and lay down on the bed looking up at the ceiling of her room. _He hasn't even asked how I am._ She thought to herself. _Maybe he doesn't even care. _But even as he thought it she knew it wasn't true.

He cared; he must of care even if it was only a little but because otherwise she wouldn't even be here._ But then why isn't he up here then?_ She sighed again but she had no answers to the questions that kept swimming around her head so she tried to sleep. This time she closed her eyes and tried to sleep it was because it was the only way that she would be able to escape for a few short hours and that was what she needed: an escape. She traced the pattern once more before she found herself drifting of to sleep.

The Doctor sighed and fiddled with his sonic screwdriver just staring at the wall of the TARDIS. He could feel Winter's emotions settling down a little and he guessed that it meant that she was going to sleep now. It had been like that ever since they had come back from Serafina's house. He had been feeling whatever she had been and since they had come back Winter had been feeling all sorts of emotions. From sadness to guilt to desperation but he just couldn't bring himself to go up to make sure she was okay._ She might hate me now. I took her to Andros so that she could relax but instead I manage to get us married._

It was an odd feeling. On the one hand, he knew that he loved her that he really and truly was in love with the odd named Swann but on the other hand he didn't know how she felt and he was worried about the marriage. It had never been done before; a Timelord and a human had never been married and the thing that had happened with Donna… As he thought t about imagined Winter in the same place as Donna he felt a gut wrenching pain, almost as if his body was reacting to the thought of Winter away from him and protesting with all its might and he quickly stopped thinking about it.

Instead he tried to make his body fall asleep and it seemed to work, but just as he was drifting off he heard a piercing shrill scream fill the TARDIS an echoed off the walls. "Winter." He whispered to himself.

He jumped up and ran to her room, bursting down the door and looked around the room expecting to see something leaning over her but all that was there was Winter in her bed tossing and turning. "Winter, Winter wake up." He shook her trying to get her to wake up. "Winter wake up!" He shook her again and this time she woke up.

She gasped and saw him and when she did an uncontrollable sob burst through her and she started crying. "Shhh, shhh." He brought her too him and put his arms around her comforting her. His hearts broke at what he was seeing but part of him noted that his hearts were fluttering at the proximity of her. "It was a bad dream Winter, that's all." he told her, rocking her gently.

"N-no it wasn't." she whimpered. The Doctor looked at her and wiped away the tears that were still falling freely down her face, but it didn't make much difference. The tears were still falling and Amber knew there wasn't anything she could really do about it. They would carry on falling and nothing was going to stop them. Amber didn't want to stop them though; she was crying for all that those people had lost, their homes, their family, friends and eventually their planet. Her crying was a way to honour them when there was nothing else that could be done.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"It was too real to be a dream; it was almost like a memory but it wasn't mine." She began crying again as she remembered the faces. "It was too vivid." She gasped. The Doctor held her closer again, telling her that everything would be alright.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She shook her head and felt her grip tighten on him. "Okay then, you doesn't have to tell me anything but what about a hot drink?"

"Umm do you think that you could just stay here with me for a bit? I don't trust myself not to fall apart again." He nodded and stroked her hair softly. After a few moments she sighed and lifted her hands off the Doctor suit. "I think I can handle a hot drink now." He nodded and Amber moved away so that he could get and when he did she followed him into the kitchen part of the TARDIS. "Hot chocolate right?" He asked but then froze.

He wasnt supposed to know that, she hadn't told him what drink she preffered or how she like it. But thankfully, she saw too upset over her nightmare to give it any thought.

"Yeh, hot chocolate." She told him. "With water instead of milk please." She added as an after thought. He nodded and walked to the kettle and put it on to boil then he turned to look at Winter. Beautiful, smart, bright, sarcastic, strong Winter. The girl that figured out how to save a whole country, the girl that almost died and walked right out of it laughing and asking where they were going to go next and the girl that waited all that time to follow him into the unknown, not afraid of anything so whatever was in that dream must have been pretty bad to scare her like that.

"I think…I think that I can tell you now." Amber said quietly. The Doctor handed her the cup of hot chocolate and she took it gratefully into her hands and gave him a little smile. "Do you want to sit down?" Amber shook her head looking down at her mug and sighed slightly before looking up again. "The dream was so real, it was almost like it was happening right in front of me… there was so much pain and suffering though, like…like there was a war happening right there in front of me."

She started and when she did she couldn't seem to stop. "I-I don't know what happened…all I could really feel was the pain of all the people but… what I did see was the…the Daleks." She stopped, closed her eyes and tried to escape the pain that she was feeling but this time it didn't go away. Instead it increased so much that she almost cried out.

Amber looked over to the Doctor in time to see him stagger a little and then fall to the floor. "Doctor!" she cried out and ran to him forgetting the hot chocolate in her hand and letting it drop. It smashed to the floor as she knelt by him. "Doctor? Doctor are you okay?" She was almost crying again from both seeing him helpless on the floor and the pain she was feeling.

"I think… I think that I know what you were dreaming about." He whispered sitting up.

"What was it?" Amber asked. She didn't know whether she wanted to know or not but somehow she knew it was something that she needed to know. The Doctor seemed reluctant to tell her. "Please? I need to know." She whispered. He nodded and with that he began telling her about the Last Time War.

The Doctor woke up dazed and slightly warm. He looked over and found that Winter was asleep next to him and his arm was resting lightly over her waist. Her face was snuggled into his chest and her hand was gripping his shirt tightly. He started to move away from her but she clung tighter and murmured something that sounded a lot like 'don't go'. Smiling to him self her moved back into the position that he was in before and closed his eyes and breathed in her scent, preparing to go to sleep when something Winter said made his eyes snap open so quickly that they almost made a sound.

He stopped breathing, wondering if what he heard was wrong. "I love you." She murmured again but this time it was clearer to hear and unmistakable. The Doctor lay there frozen in that position. _She couldn't of said that, she couldn't have been talking about me could she?_ He didn't dare let himself hope what she had said was true – not this early in her timeline - because it may have been a mistake and he didn't know if he would be able to handle that.

"I love you Doctor." She whispered softly and moved herself closer to him. The part of his brain that wasn't forced into shock from those words argued with himself but his hearts won out in the end. The Doctor broke out into a huge grin and held her closer to him.

"I love you too Winter." He whispered to her. "I love you more than I thought possible." He closed his eyes and fell into a soft, peaceful sleep – and for the first time in months he didn't have a nightmare. Amber smiled to herself as she heard the words he had whispered. She knew now, that the Doctor more than cared and the feeling she felt hearing him say those words made her heart swell and her stomach flutter and Winter Swann fell asleep knowing that the man she well and truly loved, loved her back just as much and for now she was happy that she knew. When he wanted to tell her he would but for now, Amber enjoyed the feeling of his arms wrapped around her, keeping her safe from whatever was out there.

They slept peacefully and unknowingly ignorant to what lay ahead for them because very soon, the Doctor and his beloved would once again be parted.

* * *

**And there you have it. The lonng awaitied original chapter. **

**Were you as suprised as i hoped you'd be? I hope you were. This was basically the chapter the whole story was revollved around so tell me if it's good. **


	9. Chapter 6

**There you go. 2 original chapter. I'm spoiling you! Still, thank you once again to all those who have read, favourited and followed my story. As i', sure you already know, it means the world to me. **

**Also a special thanks to Brownbug (waiting for that next chapter ya know), JayceeJade, sashaxh (no they wont lol. But that wont hapen for a while), Theta-McBride (love your name btw but no, that isnt the time, It's something else.) and lastly Theta'sworstnightmare (awesome name and thank you for the con crit. I appreciate it.)**

* * *

**Dreams Are Dreams, Except When They're Not. Then They're Something Else**

The TARDIS, Amber found was clearly a sentient being.

Whenever there was a moment that Amber felt she could not cope with something, the TARDIS would be there to help her. It was almost like the TARDIS was a mother, bent on looking out for a child, but in no way did she complain about it. In fact, Amber found herself constantly leaning on the TARDIS, literally and emotionally.

She had been having bad dreams since the whole Weeping Angel fiasco. The horrid face constantly plagued her, her mind making up worse and worse situations every time and once she opened her eyes, it was almost as if she could feel the Angel crawl back into her mind. Once or twice Amber could have sworn that she saw the Angel out of the corner of her eye but when she told the Doctor about it, he had reassured her that it wasn't possible for that to happen. The Angel had fallen through a crack in time and so had never even existed.

It also helped, to have someone who would hum softly in her mind as she thought about the repercussions of the unknown confession the week before. The Doctor hadn't mentioned it and so neither had she. She wanted him to be comfortable enough to say it to her out loud.

Amber knew she was not the first Companion – not by far, and she had come to realise that somewhere along the way the Doctor had fallen in love with one of them. She didn't know what had happened to her but it had obviously hurt the Doctor and prevented him to be able to love again. Amber hoped that somehow, she would be able to help him; with whatever it was that he needed help in.

As Amber made her way around the TARDIS, she noticed a door that she had never seen before. Quickly she walked over to it and pushed forcefully. It wasn't locked. She pushed it open and to her surprise, she found a room filled with books. _Oh my God, this is amazing!_ And amazing it was:

The room was golden and red – much like she expected Gryffindor common room to be – and was filled with rows upon rows of shelves. There was a mantle piece hanging from the ceiling and when she looked up to it, she saw it was painted to look like a blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds - she noticed looked like they were moving.

The books in the library ranged from old to new; their holding touched the ceiling and reached down to the floor. _And,_ Amber noticed with glee, _the ceiling is a good 10 metre's taller than me!_ _I've found the Library,_she realized. Amber then found herself giggling a little to herself as she remembered what the Doctor had said many years ago. "But no swimming pool." She giggled to herself.

Still, she looked around, taking in the sheer beauty of the room she had found herself in. It hadn't escaped her notice that the TARDIS seemed to be almost chuckling at the girl. "Don't you laugh at me, this room is awesome and I happen to love books." It was true, as a young girl she had grown up with books, always going to the library and bringing books home. It had annoyed her aunt to no extent but it made Amber happy so she paid no attention to her.

As she got older and things had started to happen to the people she cared most about, Amber withdrew herself even more from those her age, she didn't want to hurt anyone. She had been a smart girl, noticing that the odd things only happened to those she spent more time with; so she came to the conclusion that distancing herself would be better for everyone. But there had been one friend that had refused to allow it, at least while she had still been in Scotland.

Amber smiled as she remembered the small Scottish girl she had been best friends with once upon a time. Small, fiery and loyal Lea. She loved the girl like her own sister and even at the age of four, Lea still got them into trouble. It had been the hardest thing Amber ever had to do; but she tried her best for her friend.

She didn't have to wait long though, because Lea's parents had decided to move somewhere else. Amber had never found out where they had moved and honestly she had tried not to care. This was what she had wanted. It was what she had strived for, and finally, the only person - besides her aunt, who still did try on occasion - was gone.

And with that, Amber turned to her last remaining ally. Books. The books she read would transform from a place where she had to worry constantly to a place where she could relax, to a safe haven, and as one particular talent evolved, she found a whole new meaning to getting into a story.

Amber shook her head, brining herself out of the distant memory and looked around thoroughly, she was enjoying this, enjoying the smell of the old books as she leafed through one or two, not really taking anything in but reading all the same. Finally, she found a book, one she had never read and sat on one of the lavish cushions that lay about the floor and began to read.

**[][][]**

Hours had passed and the Doctor had become worried. Really though, there was no need to be. The TARDIS would never let Winter get hurt and there was no where she could go on the TARDIS that would lead to _that much _trouble. At least, none that he knew she couldn't get out of.

Speaking of the TARDIS, he felt her soft hum in his mind and opened up the psychic link he had to her. _"Really, dear Theta, you should tell her soon. The poor girl is so confused, almost distraught."_

"_I know that,"_ he began. _"But I can't tell her everything. She isn't my Winter, she's still goes by Amber…" _He trailed off, thinking about how it used to be for them. Memories flashed through his mind and he sighed almost sadly. He coveted those times.

"_Do not be foolish Theta; you know she loves you, at the very least cares strongly for you. It can be the way it used to be, and if I get my say in it, it will be very soon." _The Doctor knew she would do it if he didn't do something and he knew it well. Out of all his Companions – not that he would ever call Winter a Companion per say, the TARDIS had managed to form a strong bond to Winter, one that could almost rival his own.

Many a time he had known that the two were as thick as thieves, and when the Doctor first realised that, the irony was not lost on him. _"Fine, show me where she is."_ The TARDIS led him to the library and sure enough, when he saw the door he rolled his eyes in ire. _Of course she would be here; I should have checked the Library first._

He opened the door and walked inside and smiled at what he saw. Winter was curled up in her favourite chair and was fast asleep, book still in hand. The Doctor walked over with a smile still on his face and took the book gently from her hand, placing it down gently on the table next to her upside down on the page she had left it.

He had once just closed the book and he had had hell to pay because of it. He learnt his lesson very quickly after that. The Doctor then walked over to a chest near another of the chairs and he grabbed a blanket out of it. He then went back to Winter and covered her with it. She stirred a little so the Doctor stroked her hair and kissed her softly on the head and, just like every time he had done this, she sighed contentedly and fell back into a peaceful sleep.

The Doctor left her there and walked out the room but not before closing the door behind him, wishing her a peaceful sleep. The irony of this fact was that, in only moments, Amber's sleep would be filled with horrifying thoughts, within minuets, a terrifying image would slowly appear and within the hour, Amber would have been gone.

**[][][]**

Amber started awake expecting to hear the hum of the TARDIS telling her the Doctor was looking for her or something like that. When she didn't hear it, she opened her eyes, expecting to see the golden Library, with books surrounding her and a warm and comfortable seat beneath her.

Instead, she saw felt something rough and cold, and possibly wet underneath her. All around her was grey and black and very dull.

Groaning she sat up and looked around again and frowned. _Where am I? _Amber sat stood up. _Definitely not in the Library._ She looked around for the third time but this time she saw a door. She walked towards it but froze. There were footsteps. Her heart began racing and she looked around the room hoping for somewhere to hide.

Amber was someone who was able to look after herself generally, she had picked up a few things in her lifetime but the problem was, she hated using her powers. Though she was fierce and passionate, she never tried to be violent. So, following this thought, she looked around once again for somewhere to hide – unfortunately, there was nowhere she could.

The footsteps were getting closer and still Amber had no where to hide. _I may have to fight this time._ She didn't want to but there were times where she had to. The footsteps were now outside the door and Amber braced herself. They came up to the door and Amber heard the door knob turn and the door was opening.

"Hello?" It was a woman. One that didn't look that much older than Amber herself. "Who are you?" She asked.

"Amber Swann. I'm sorry but where am I?" Amber asked her. The woman smiled warmly at Amber.

"You're in Hull." Amber frowned.

"Hull, as in North-East England Hull?" She asked. The woman nodded. "Shit, how the hell did I end up here?" She murmured to herself. It seemed the woman heard her. This time, she frowned.

"Where are you from?" She asked. Amber looked at her for a moment. "I'm sorry it's just that, your accent is American but you talk like someone…not from here." Amber nodded and sighed.

"I'm sorry it's just that I shouldn't be here. I fell asleep in…well London I guess, but then I woke up _here._ I need to get back to the Doctor." She ran her hands through her hair but didn't notice the woman's frown to deepen.

"Did you say London?" She asked slowly. Amber nodded.

"Yeh and I need to get back. I'm sorry, if you just tell me the day, time and the way to the nearest taxi service, airport or train station and I'll be on my way." The woman could hear the annoyance in Amber's voice and sighed internally. The woman shook her head at Amber.

"I'm sorry, I don't think that will work."

"What do you mean?" "You said that you're from London yes?" Amber nodded.

"What year?"

"2012…"_ Where else would I come from?_ She wondered.

"Well then I'm sorry, but you wont be able to go back to London. At least the London you know." This was something Amber hadn't expected. At the most she thought that the woman could be a murderer or something. That at least that would have make more sense than what she was saying now.

"What do you mean?" Amber's voice got louder as she asked this.

"I mean that you're in Hull, but it's not 2012, it's 1968." Amber's stomach dropped at that sentence and she felt the blood drain out of her face.

"What?" She whispered.

"My name's Kathy Wainwright, and I think I can explain what's happened to you."

**[][][]**

"Do you know what the Weeping Angels are Amber?" She shuddered as she remembered how the Angel looked at her once again but she nodded in answer and so Kathy continued on with her explanation. "I thought you might, he said you would anyway." Amber's head shot up at that.

"Who's he?" She asked.

"Someone who called himself the Doctor." At her confused look Kathy explained more. "He came up to me two years ago, just after my wedding and told me that a girl with hair as white a snow would end up in my basement so I waited. He said that when she came I was to tell her what happened and then send her to London."

"What – what did he look like?" Amber was almost afraid to ask but she needed to know.

"He was a skinny fellow, really tall and had hair that defied gravity. He wore a pinstripe suite and red converses." Amber's heart sank, it wasn't her Doctor. _No, I still need to get to him though. _Subconsciously, she stroked the tattoo's she had gained on her last adventure and prayed that her Doctor wouldn't get too worried about her.

"Oh." Was all she said quietly. Then a thought came to her. "Hang on, how do you know what converses are?" She asked confused.

"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot to say. I'm from 2008." Amber only nodded her head and so Kathy took that as the end of that conversation and carried on explaining. "The Doctor said that the Weeping Angels kill by displacing people in time and feed on the rest of the energy we would have made if we were to carry on living in our time. That's the nicest way to kill someone I expect." Kathy said lightly.

"He said that it was probably the same Angel that touched you as it was for me or at least one that was in the same family as it. He also said that it could be a coincidence, and then he carried on rambling until I asked if there was any point in it." Amber just nodded at that though she was also relived; this Doctor had some similarities as hers at least. "He didn't tell me much, but there was one thing he told me to tell you." Amber looked at her expectantly.

"He also said to say that he was so sorry." Amber's breath caught and Kathy noticed it. "He said that he wouldn't know who you were when you first meet." She nodded, tears in her eyes.

"Thank you for telling me this, but I think I should go to London now." Amber said quietly with her head down.

"Why don't you stay for a little while? Ben and I can help you get to London in a couple of days if you'd like."

"No, I don't think I should do that. For some reason I was sent here and I think it's to help the Doctor." Kathy looked like she was about to interrupt. "The thing is though, I probably know the Doctor better than anyone at the moment, but he doesn't know a thing about me. "I didn't even tell him that I loved him properly before I left. Its funny, I suppose that he must have known me before, when I first met him, but I didn't. Funny how things work."

Kathy looked at the young girl, probably heart broken and pulled her into her arms for a hug. "Everything will work out fine, you'll see." Amber nodded and let go. Shortly after she found herself on a train on her way to London to find the man that would break her heart.

**[][][]**

It had taken Amber a month before she had found the Doctor and during that time, she had begun to feel immense pain. It had started off as a slight headache and fever and she had thought it was stress and had let it go. After the second week, her headaches had turned into full blown migraines and the fevers turned worse for wear.

It was odd that it had been able to get past her ability, but as the third week came it had began to get harder to breathe and to move. It took her a while to realise that it was the Bond that was acting up, trying to get her as close to the Doctor as possible and as quickly as it could.

Her pain had come and gone and it was now the fourth week. She didn't know how long she could withstand it and so when she had found him she almost collapsed with relief. She had asked all over, getting jobs and moving all over London until she heard someone say that the Doctor was in a place called Berkshire. It was a small town where there were a few shops and everyone knew each other but it was a friendly place.

The first day she got there, she asked about the Doctor and was pointed to the house at the edge of the town. Amber however didn't want to go yet. She didn't want to meet the man that she knew but at the same time didn't.

The Doctor – _her_ Doctor had told her about regeneration one night when she had woken with nightmares about her past and hadn't wanted to go back to sleep. He had also told her about his Companions and some of the adventures he had gone on with them. If she was right, then this was one with Martha. From what he had told her about Martha, they wouldn't get along and Amber was not looking forward to that one little bit. Martha was someone who was quick to judge and it seemed like she had had a thing for the Doctor as well.

That was not a good thing.

Eventually, Amber sucked up the courage to talk to go and talk to the Doctor. She had taken up a job as a bar maiden in the town pub. It seemed like she brought business vey easily to the pub and while she hated the attention she got from the sleazy men that were _not_ _unlike _the ones she had in the 21st Centaury, it brought money to her on a regular basis. _Here goes nothing,_ she thought as she looked up at the house.

Taking in a deep breath, she walked past the gate and knocked. She waited and waited but it seemed like no one was home. She sighed in defeat and turned to leave but as she did she felt the wave of pain more intense that it had ever been wash over her.

It was literally like her body was being drowned in fire while someone electrocuted her. Amber gasped in pain, she couldn't even scream with how much it hurt, she just fell to the floor and lay there. Soon enough, the pain got brighter and Amber felt herself succumb to the darkness that was fluttering over her mind, shutting it down and letting her escape from the pain. She welcomed it with open arms.

**[][][]**

The Doctor and Martha had been out at a restaurant. The Doctor was tired of being cooped up in the house – Martha hadn't let him leave lest he cause too much damage – and it was Martha's birthday. Upon hearing this, the Doctor couldn't be stopped and had taken her out for it.

Of course, he didn't have any money and so Martha had had to pay for the meal. They did have a good time though and were happy on the way home. Chatting easily and happily. That all changed though when they found a girl on the door of their house.

"Oh my God!" Martha exclaimed. The Doctor rushed up to her and scanned her with his Sonic Screwdriver, making sure her there were no broken bones. When he found none he turned her gently over and lifted her up.

"Martha open the door, quickly!" Martha rushed to the door and did what he told her and they got the girl in and put her gently on the Doctor's bed.

"What's wrong with her?" Martha asked worriedly.

"I don't know, I scanned her but there was nothing wrong with her, at least physically. It's like her mind couldn't stand the pain she was in and shut down completely sending her into a coma. It could be weeks before she wakes up, it depends on how strong her mind is."

"So what? Is there nothing we can do?" Martha asked checking the girls pulse, it was slightly thread-y.

"No, she's sent her self into a self induced coma; her neurons aren't even sending signals to her brain. Everything has just shut down completely."

"But that's impossible, that means that she shouldn't even be breathing!"

"Yes, I know. There's nothing we can do, we just have to make sure her heart keeps beating." The Doctor told her. Martha looked at the girl on the bed and her heart went out to her.

Over the next few days the girl was looked after. Martha still had to go to work to bring income for them so the Doctor was the one watched over the young girl. Each day he would come in and sit by her chair while he tinkered with something or another but she never moved.

It was on the sixth day that he got a response from her. He had been trying to add another setting to his Screwdriver – one that could be used on wood – but he was failing miserably much to his disappointment. After a couple of hours of trying to do this he looked up at the girl. He was about to look back when he noticed something glimmer slightly and he walked over to her.

When he reached her he looked at her, trying to find the thing that had glinted. When he looked over, he noticed she had something on her wrist, looking closer he saw the words 'Hope and Elation'. He knew what they meant to him, they meant the freedom to be able to love and be loved, to be able to have a family and to be able to not have the guilt of his past weighing down on him for the rest of his life.

The Doctor looked at the words tattooed on her wrist and he wondered what they meant for her. He saw the small glint again, out of the corner of his eye, and they travelled up to her neck. There, in plain sight was a small silver key. That in itself was an odd thing but the Doctor realised what that key was. It was a TARDIS key.

He picked it up carefully and looked at it closer. It was definitely a TARDIS key and she was definitely not someone he had met before so why did she have it? "Who are you?" He asked out loud. He pulled the key slightly.

"_NO!" _A scream echoed through the room and the next thing he knew, the Doctor was flying through the air and crashing into the opposite wall.

**[][][]**

There was so much pain! Crushing, back breaking, pain that made Amber want to scream but she couldn't. There was no relief anywhere. It was as if the Bond would not rest until she found her Mate but unfortunately that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

Of course, there was _a_ Doctor but she didn't know if the pain would go if it wasn't _her _Doctor. She could only hope that maybe it would at least lower the pain a little. Amber didn't know how long she had been there in the pain, she didn't know if she had screamed, thrashed or stayed silent but after a while the pain lessened slightly and she was grateful for that. It carried on like that, lessening and lessening but it never completely went away.

Then all of a sudden the pain lessened drastically. She could feel things other than pain again. She could feel the warmth that you only get from a human body. She could hear breathing and she could feel something around her neck. _No!_

They were going to take her TARDIS key. The Doctor had given her that key when he had realised that she had been there for a month. Almost like an anniversary present. They could not. Take. Her. Key.

The door she had used to keep her powers in check burst open and she let them all flow out at once. The one she needed the most came out to protect its master. She felt her mind push who ever it was back as hard as it could to protect. Amber pushed herself up and looked around frantically, looking for whomever it was that had tried to take the key.

Her logical mind was telling her that they probably hadn't done it on purpose but the emotional side was saying they were taking away the only connection she had to her Doctor and they were not allowed to do that. And because her powers worked with her emotions, their agenda was the same.

It was then that she saw the man lying on the floor. "Shit," she cried and rushed over to him quickly but slightly wobbly as she hadn't been walking for a while. When she reached him she realized who it was. The man was tall and very slim. He had sideburns and hair that defied gravity.

Amber wasn't 100% sure but she believed that this man was the Doctor. "Oh no, oh no, I just used telekinesis against the Doctor." She whispered. Amber started to freak out, wondering if she had accidentally killed the man. Her worries were pushed away however, when she heard him groan. Slowly, he raised himself up off the ground and rubbed his head.

"Ohh that hurt." He muttered. Then he looked at Amber. "Who are you?" He asked. Amber almost cried. His eyes, even though they were a warm, melted chocolate brown instead of the sea blue-green she was used to were the same. They were young but ancient.

They held secrets, fears, hopes and dreams. But above all, they held that spark that her Doctor had in his. It was at that moment that Amber chose something that would soon become one of the last connections she had to her Doctor.

"My name is Winter Swann and my God you are a hard bloke to find."

* * *

**So as you have obviously seen, she is now with 10. I hope that clarifies a few things. Also there is a foreshadow there. Not to anything necisarily bad but if anyone can guess what it is then you can choose something that happens and i'll add it to the next chapter. **

**Oh and if you guys have ANY constructive critism, then by all means, review and tell me cuz i want to make all the DW fans out there proud. **

**Oh and the next few chapters may take longer to post as i havent actually witten all of them yet. Bere with me. **


	10. Chapter 7

**Yeh I know it looks like it's the same but something is added to the end. I wrote it and decided it was too short to be classed as a chapter so I added it onto here. Enjoy.**

* * *

A Question Worth Answered

It was less than an hour later that the Doctor began to realise something was very not good. The Doctor had been trying to find a way to increase the speed of travel through the vortex. The idea was that he could break through one of the parallel walls throughout time. In theory, this would allow him to travel back through his own time stream without causing a Paradox because he would be too fast for the timelines to collide.

That was the theory at least. The practical however meant that if he tried to do this, he would cause a universal implosion the size of the Milky Way and it just so happened that the Milky Way was a galaxy that he happened to like.

It was only minutes later that the Doctor began feeling panic. His mind fluttered about trying to find the cause of the panic but he couldn't think of anything that would cause it.

There was no impending doom, the Earth wasn't overrun with aliens, the TARDIS wasn't exploding and Winter was still-

_"Theta, there is something wrong. I cannot pick up Winter's life force anywhere."_ The Doctor froze in fear.

_"No where? But that's not possible. She has to be somewhere; it's not possible for her to just disappear."_

_"I have checked everywhere," _the TARDIS spoke. There was worry colouring her voice. "_Winter isn't on the TARDIS. The last time I registered her life force was 15 minutes ago, anything after that and the only life form that registers is you."_

The Doctor's hearts froze, there wasn't a possibility that Winter wasn't on the TARDIS, there just couldn't be. He ran to the Library and shoved the doors open. Sure enough, there was no sign of the girl. The Doctor ran through the shelves looking everywhere. He called to her on numerous occasions in the hope that she would answer him but she never did.

He wouldn't give up though. He ran back to the console and typed furiously at the keyboard setting the Locator to Winter's DNA hoping to find the one that matched his current Winter.

Every time he found one his heart fluttered with hope only to have it dashed again when it wasn't the right time period. But still he tried, again and again.

After hours of searching, he still could not find anything but the Doctor still refused to give up. He felt the TARDIS nudge his mind and he allowed her entrance. "_Theta, there is another explanation,"_ she began. He silently told her to continue and she did. "_When you first found Winter she told you that she would never tell you where she had come from however I did not tell you either." _She paused. "_She confided in me, telling me that she had come from a point in your future."_

_"So you're saying_," the Doctor began, "_that this could be the timelines fixing themselves?" _

_"It is possible yes." _The TARDIS told him. The Doctor slumped down against the console. If that were true, it meant that this was supposed to happen – and he supposed it was. When he had first met Winter, she had introduced herself as such. She had also known him from before. The Doctor remembered the annoying catch phrase she had always told him.

'Spoilers.'

If that was the case, he now had to wait until she found him again. He groaned in annoyance. "_Be patient dear Theta. You will find her again." _

And so the Doctor was patient. He waited, going on adventures and saving the world many times in the process but he missed her. He missed her voice and the things she said, he missed her wit and her intelligence but above all, he missed how she could smile and it would calm him in an instant.

Still, he carried on as he did and along the way, he met the brilliant Amy Pond.

It was odd how alike the circumstances of their meeting was and that crack was on Amy's wall as it had been Winter's but instead of there being a prisoner this time, there was only silence. An unnatural amount.

The Doctor proceeded to make her his companion but so far they had only gone on one trip. To WWII.

It had not gone well.

The Doctor had once again met the Daleks. He managed to defeat them but still, he had wished Winter was there to stop the overflowing anger that had been coursing through him throughout that whole trip.

When they returned, Amy asked about them but he couldn't answer. He was reluctant to share and when Amy sensed that, she eventually let it go but she couldn't help wanting the Doctor to talk to her about it.

It was some time after their adventure when something happened that scared Amy much more than she had been before.

She had been sitting on the seats, the Doctor telling her about the amazing planets that he was going to take her to see. They had been laughing and joking about when suddenly the Doctor collapsed onto the floor gasping.

"Doctor!" Amy cried and ran over to him, kneeling down beside him. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Winter." He gasped and Amy found herself confused. What did a season have anything to do with this?

"What do you need? What can I do?" Amy found herself panicking. He hands were moving over the Doctor's shaking body but not touching him; not knowing what to do.

He didn't answer, he couldn't. He was in too much pain. The Doctor's heart broke knowing why. Winter was suffering from the Bond. It was causing her pain not being physically near him and as an effect it, his Bond was rebounding and trying to absorb as much of the pain as he could so it would lessen it for her.

The Doctor closed his eyes and focused on her. Trying to breathe as deeply as possible, he extended his Bond to wherever she was and wrapped it around her Psyche.

Winter's exposure to the TARDIS had left her with a higher psychic mentality meaning it allowed him to find her and use his to take away as much pain as he could. He hoped that if the Bond felt some of his Psyche then it would consider this part of him and recoil.

He focused more intently and found it working. He continued doing this until he felt no more pain and he opened his eyes. In front of him was Amy, worry and fear filled hers as he looked at her before groaning and getting up.

"What was that? What happened to you?" She asked, the worry in her eyes colouring her tone.

"Someone I care deeply about is in pain." He answered quietly but still Amy heard and persisted.

"Are we going to help them?" She asked.

"No." Soon enough Winter would find his last regeneration and then the Bond would quieten down a little bit. Whether or not the pain would go completely was another matter but he hoped that is would at least become manageable. _Wherever you are Winter I am so, so sorry._

**[][][]**

Winter watched as the Timelord bounced around the TARDIS console. She was so unused to this version of him but at the same time, he had the same gleam and childlike glee about him that Winter just had to smile at his antics.

Still, she forever found herself tracing over the tattoos on her wrist, hoping that she would be able to return soon.

They had managed to get the TARDIS back eventually, though Winter had felt how furious she had been at them. When she entered she almost gasped aloud; she was not the same TARDIS but it didn't matter too much, she could still feel her consciousness, still talk to the machine.

When she had first entered, she begged the TARDIS to keep her secret. The Doctor couldn't know what it was she was becoming, at least, not yet. The TARDIS agreed on the condition that she would help heal him and Winter gladly agreed.

And so, it was because of this that Winter was watching as he and Martha conversed like best friends while a part of her cried because it was no longer her that the Doctor would confide in.

It seemed like this Doctor was too busy trying to get her to tell him just how she managed to throw him across the room without even touching him.

"So where are we going now?" Martha asked, "And if we get stuck somewhere else I will kill you."

"Cardiff." The Doctor said pulling some levers getting ready to leave.

"Cardiff?" Martha asked. She was obviously unimpressed with the destination and Winter could understand why in a way. There was nothing remotely special about Cardiff if you had a time machine. Well, that was if you didn't know what it was.

"Cardiff was built on a rift in time and space." Winter told her before the Doctor could. "Because of this, things escape all the time and come here to Earth. It's almost like a plug hole if you will. It also happens to bleed energy, energy that's compatible with the TARDIS so she soaks it up and uses it as fuel." Martha looked at her and Winter smiled.

"How do you know that?" The Doctor asked somewhat shocked at the girls knowledge.

Winter shrugged, "I know stuff." There was a pause where the Doctor continued to look at her but Winter said nothing else to clarify the matter.

"Wait a minute," Martha said interrupting the Doctor's stare. "They had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple of years ago. Was that you?"

"Bit of trouble with the Slitheen." The Doctor told her, once again pulling levers. "A long time ago. Lifetimes. I was a different man back then." He glanced at the screen and noticed a man with a black rucksack running towards the TARDIS.

"I bet you were," Winter murmured. It was then that she noticed the man as well. It seemed like he was running to the TARDIS but if that was the case, the Doctor wouldn't be trying to get away as quickly as possible unless…_I wonder if this is Jack._ She thought.

"Finito. All powered up." He said. Suddenly there was a bang outside the door. When Winter looked at the screen she no longer saw the man. _Yep, it's probably Jack._

"Whoa! What's that?" Martha asked. _Someone clinging to the outside of a ship travelling through the Vortex. This is not going to end well, _Winter thought as she held on the one of the railings surrounding the ship.

"We're accelerating into the future." The doctor exclaimed, looking at the screen. "The year one billion. Five billion. Five trillion. Fifty trillion? What? The year one hundred trillion? That's impossible."

Winter gaped while Martha stared at the doctor in confusion. "Why? What happens then?" She shouted over the noise.

"It's the end of the universe." _Shit. This really isn't going to end well. _

**[][][]**

Finally the TARDIS stopped shaking as an indication that they had landed. "Well, we've landed." The doctor stated. Winter rolled her eyes; it seemed this doctor had a pension for stating the obvious as well.

"Thank you Captain Obvious but what does that mean? What's out there?" Winter asked as she pulled herself to her feet as she had somehow managed to fall during the trip.

"I don't know."

"Say that again, that's rare." Martha teased.

"Not even the Timelords came this far. We should leave. We should go. We should really, really go." And Winter wholeheartedly agreed. She may not have known much about this particular adventure as her Doctor hadn't told her much but she knew that whatever bad happened, was not going to be good.

**[][][]**

Winter followed the two out the door worried about what was going to happen. If she wasn't careful, then it was possible that something could happen and she would change the time lines.

And then an idea occurred to her. If she was here now, that meant that when her Doctor met her, he already knew her because he had met her when he was 10. As confusing as it was, Winter couldn't help the small feeling of betrayal – even though she knew that he _couldn't _have told her.

"Oh my God!" She heard Martha screech and she ran for the girl. "Can't get a pulse. Hold on. You've got that medical kit thing." She ran into the TARDIS leaving Winter and the Doctor behind her, both looking at the body.

"Hello again. Oh, I'm sorry." She heard the Doctor murmur quietly. _It's nice to finally meet you Jack._ She thought to herself. She didn't even notice Martha return until she was standing next to Jack."Here we go. Get out of the way. It's a bit odd, though. Not very hundred trillion. That coat's more like World War Two."

"I think he came with us." The Doctor told her.

"How do you mean, from Earth?" Martha asked.

"Must have been clinging to the outside of the TARDIS all the way through the vortex. Well, that's very him." Winter scoffed at the remark he made and both the Doctor and Martha turned to her.

"I wonder what gave it away. Was it the TARDIS' warning? Oh I know, maybe it was the fact that you could _see_ him clinging from the monitor!"

"What? You saw him?" She asked Winter completely disregarding the comment about the Doctor. Martha was sure that if the Doctor had seen him, he would have let him inside no doubt about it.

"Who is he anyway?"

"Friend of mine. Used to travel with me, back in the old days." There was hardly any emotion in his voice, Winter realised, and she wondered what had happened that had made the Doctor so…solemn.

"But he's. I'm sorry, there's no heartbeat. There's nothing. He's dead." She told him sadly. All of a sudden, Jack gasped and shot up, clutching on to Martha. "Oh, so much for me. It's all right. Just breathe deep. I've got you."

"Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?" Winter giggled a little at his reaction but then gasped as a flash of light came in front of her and when it left, there stood a woman.

Winter couldn't see her face as her back was turned away from her and towards Jack, but she could see that her hands were on her hips. Winter could only guess that she was glaring at Jack.

"I cannot _believe_ you just left like that! What the hell do you think would have happened if the team didn't know how to handle themselves? I mean, you just left! Without warning! You freaking dumbass!"

"Ari-"

"Don't Ari me! How could you think of leaving? I mean come on Jack I cannot believe you would just take off like this, I – where the hell are we?" Everyone seemed to be a little shocked at her sudden change of mood. Well, everyone except Winter. She was like that all the time, especially when she was tired and so, she answered.

"Apparently, were at the end of the Universe and _some people_," she motioned to the Doctor, "thought it would be a good idea to stay here." The woman turned and looked at Winter, and both of them gasped.

It was literally like looking in the mirror. Her lips were the same shape, just a shade darker than Winter's and her eyes were almost the exact shade of green as her. The only difference between the two of them were their hair styles. While both women had the exact same shade of hair, Winter's was tightly curled into ringlets, her purple streaks pulled back and the women's hair fell in soft waves.

"Who are you?" The two of them said together. Everyone was looking at them, not knowing how to respond. Martha was confused at the whole thing and what had just happened, the Doctor was looking at the similarities between the two, not knowing how it was possible, and Jack was looking at Ari, trying to determine what she was thinking.

It was Winter though who first snapped out of it and offered the woman her hand. "Winter Swann, well, it's Winter now but I used to go by a different name." The woman took Winter's had and shook it.

"Ariella Addams, I go by my middle name, I really don't like my first one." Jack let out an involuntary snort and Ariella turned to glare at him before looking back at Winter. "But you can call me Ari."

Martha, not knowing what was happening still, decided to also introduce herself. "I'm Martha Jones." She told Ari. Ari looked at her and smiled politely, but her gaze fell back to Winter very quickly.

"Nice to meet you, Martha Jones." Jack said from where he still was on the floor. Ari turned to glare back at him.

"Oh, don't start." She growled. Jack had the decency to look frightened at the glare but still had a comeback as was his usual fashion.

"I was only saying hello."

"Well I can 'only say hello' to him too if you'd like." She said pointing at the Doctor. It seemed Jack knew exactly what type of hello she was talking about and immediately jumped up and walked over to her.

"I don't think so," he said firmly. Ari was about to give a snarky remark when all of a sudden, she felt his lips on hers, bringing her into a firm but loving kiss. She couldn't help her reaction to the brunette and immediately kissed him back, melting into his embrace.

Winter smiled lightly at the couple. It was obvious they loved each other, so very obvious but it also made her heart ache for her Doctor. _Wherever he is, I wish he knew that I love him._ She closed her eyes, and tried to project the love she was feeling to him over the Bond.

**[][][]**

The Doctor was in the TARDIS trying to fix some of the wires he may have accidentally damaged when he had landed. Whilst he was doing that, Amy was pacing nervously. "Oh! The life out there, it dazzles. I mean, it blinds you to the things that are important. I've seen it devour relationships and plans..." There was a small explosion and Rory looked at it worriedly. "Ohhh! It's meant to do that...because for one person to have seen all that, to taste the glory and then go back, it WILL tear you apart. So...I'm sending you somewhere. Together." He told them happily.

"Whoa! What, like a date?" The Doctor looked up from his work and grinned at her like a small child.

"Anywhere you want, any time you want." He stopped working and walked up the steps to join the two of them. One condition - it has to be amazing. The Moulin Rouge in 1890! The first Olympic Games! Think of it as a wedding present, because, frankly, it's either this or tokens."

The Doctor looked at Rory noticing the expression on his face. _Ahh it never gets old,_ he thought to himself. " It's a lot to take in, isn't it? Tiny box, huge room inside. What's that about? Let me explain."

"It's another dimension." Rory said.

"It's basically another dimen... What?"

"After Prisoner Zero, I've been reading up on all the latest scientific theories; FTL travel, parallel universes."

The Doctor pouted a little. "I like the bit when someone says, "It's bigger on the inside!" I always look forward to that." _Only one other person didn't say that..._And as if she had felt his sadness, the Doctor suddenly felt a wave of pure undivided love coming from the Bond.

It warmed his hearts, knowing that Winter was thinking about him, and if he remembered correctly, this would be around when she found out who she was. He wished he would be there for her in the sense that he was now; his tenth regeneration was still suspicious of her at this time, but Winter would need the emotional support that he just wasn't there to give at the moment.

Still, even through the sadness he felt for her, he still became noticeably happier as Amy asked, "so, this date. I'm kind of done with running down corridors. What do you think, Rory?"

"How about somewhere... romantic?"

**[][][]**

Winter had been listening to Jack and the Doctor for the last five minutes doing that awkward guy thing. Then suddenly, the conversation had changed to Rose.

Apparently, she had been the Doctor's first companion and it was obvious to the girl that she had been something more than _just_ a companion, whether the Doctor had realised it or not - and if she were being truthful, she would say she was jealous of the feelings the two had together.

She began tracing the tattoo's again, only this time, Ari noticed. It was odd, she noticed. She seemed to have a strange connection with Winter, like something was telling her she had to look after her.

Now Ariella had never _really_ been the caring type, with the exception of Jack, the team and her best friend Faith, but something was pulling her towards this girl and Ari wanted to find out what it was.

"Is that a city?" Martha asked. Winter snapped back to attention. _Great, I seemed to have missed the entire conversation. _

"A city or a hive, or a nest, or a conglomeration. Like it was grown. But look, there. That's like pathways, roads? Must have been some sort of life, long ago."

"Well there's nothing there now." Ari noted.

"What killed it?" Martha asked, staring at the site before her with a morbid curiosity. She had developed that in spades since she had began to travel with the Doctor.

"Time." Winter cut in softly. "Just time. Everything's dying now. All the great civilizations have gone."

The Doctor nodded slightly and added something. "This isn't just night. All the stars have burned up and faded away into nothing."

"They must have an atmospheric shell. We should be frozen to death." Jack said.

"Well, Martha and myself, Ariella and Winter, maybe. Not so sure about you, Jack." The Doctor told him truthfully.

"Oh no, not me, I'm like Jack; I can't die." Ari told them. She said it so casually that Winter didn't even realise what had been said until a minute later. She frowned, noting that Ari had said it rather absently, like she didn't even care.

"What do you mean you can't die?" The Doctor asked shocked. "There isn't anyone else like Jack, it's impossible. And even if you were like him, I would be able to tell." Ari rolled her eyes in annoyance and the man who Jack seemed to care for so much.

"I'm telling you I can't die. I don't know why - all I know is I woke up one day and I couldn't die." The Doctor's mouth was open and he looked so amazingly like a fish that Winter couldn't help but giggle softly.

"What about the people? Does no one survive?" It was a question that had popped into Martha's head as she had looked at the...building.

"I suppose we have to hope life will find a way." The Doctor told her solemnly.

"Well, he's not doing too bad." They all looked at where he was pointing, and sure enough, there was a man running through the city being chased by what appeared to be humans

"Is it me, or does that look like a hunt? Come on!" They all began to run down after the man.

"Oh, I've missed this." Winter heard Jack laugh and she knew what he meant. Those moths she had been stuck in 1946 were the worst. She was so bored she wanted to rob a bank, but that would have been counterproductive to what she needed to do.

"I've got you." Jack told the man as he reached him.

"They're coming! They're coming!" Jack aimed a gun at the tribe and was about to shoot.

"Jack, don't you dare!" The Doctor shouted.

There was a sort of electronic noise and suddenly, some of the tribe in front collapsed to the ground. Everyone looked around to see what had caused it and they saw Ari with a small silver and blue gun in her hand, but it didn't look human made.

The Doctor frowned and when she saw it she rolled her eyes. "Relax man, it was a stun gun. They're still alive...unfortunately." Jack took the opportunity to fire the gun in the air - making the tribe stop on caution.

"What the hell are they?" Martha asked.

The only response the man gave was a scarred one. "There's more of them. We've got to keep going."

"I've got a ship nearby. It's safe. It's not far, it's over there." He pointed to where the TARDIS was and ironically, it was in the direction of where most of the tribesmen had gathered.

"Yeh, that probably isn't the best way to go," Winter said sarcastically. From the corner of her eye she saw Ari and Jack smile slightly and she felt her chest flutter slightly. Resisting the urge to frown at her odd reaction, Winter stored the piece of information away for when they weren't being chased by apparent cannibals.

"We're close to the silo. If we get to the silo, then we're safe." The man they had found said.

"Silo?" The Doctor asked.

"Silo." Jack and Ari agreed.

"Silo for me." Martha said. The Doctor didn't even ask Winter for her opinion and while she knew that he knew she would say yes, she couldn't help the feeling of betrayal flood through her. "It's the Futurekind! Open the gate!"

"Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth!" A guard exclaimed.

"Show them your teeth." The man told them and all six of them barred their teeth for the guard to see. Satisfied with what he saw, the guard allowed them access into the Silo before firing his gun in warning to the tribesmen.

The Chieftain of the tribe began growling. "Humans. Humani. Make feast."

Aiming his gun at them, the guard shouted, go back to where you came from. I said go back! Go back!"

"Oh, don't tell him to put down his gun." Jack said grinning slightly. Ari rolled her eyes and slapped the back of his head lightly which only succeeded in making his grin become bigger.

"He's not my responsibility." The Doctor told him somewhat moodily. Winter scoffed and rolled her eyes. _If this was the Doctor's was of showing that he's responsible, maybe I shouldn't have tried to find him. _

"Yeh but technically, he isn't your responsibility either Doctor, he's mine." Winter couldn't help smiling at Ari as she glared at Jack –who looked very worried, and worried he should be, though he didn't know why.

"Kind watch you. Kind hungry." The supposed chief of the tribe growled and Winter groaned in annoyance.

"Ahh go suck a lemon dude. We really don't want you here." She was met with growls but she only grinned at them. Then, she happened to notice the Doctor looking at her in a disapproving manner and she once again couldn't help but want _her _Doctor back.

Eventually, the chief took his tribe away and the Doctor looked towards the guard. "Thanks for that."

With only a nod, the guard turned around. "Right. Let's get you inside."

"My name is Padrafet Shafekane. Please tell me, can you take me to Utopia?" Ari cocked her head to the side in interest, honestly wondering what Padrafet had meant.

"Oh yes, sir." He said grinning. "Yes, I can."

**[][][]**

"It's a box, a big blue box. I'm sorry, but I really need it back. It's stuck out there." The Doctor insisted. They needed the TARDIS back if they ever wanted to leave and somehow, he just couldn't imagine Martha being too pleased at the prospect of being stuck somewhere. Again.

"I'm sorry, but my family were heading for the silo. Did they get here? My mother is Kistane Shafekane. My brother is Beltone." Seeing the worried look on the man's face, Atillo called for his assistant

"Right. What d'you need?" Creet asked. The women all looked at the boy who could be no more than eight years old, working. Padra however walked over to look at Creet's clipboard, trying to find his family.

"A blue box, you said." Atillo asked. The Doctor described the box to him again and Atillo nodded. "We're driving out for a last water collection. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you."

Ari looked at the small child leading Padra through at door. She couldn't help but feel bad for him and she wondered if he had any family left. "Creet, where are your parents?" She asked before she could stop herself.

"They both died a while back. Now my aunt looks after me." Winter felt the crippling emotion travel through her; it was bad enough that he only had an aunt, but what was even worse, was that he didn't seem to feel anything about the loss of his parents.

Still, she followed the small boy with the others whilst he called for Padra's family. "Kistane Shafekane. Kistane Shafekane. Kistane and Beltone Shafekane? Looking for a Kistane and Beltone Shafekane."

They called fruitlessly for a few minutes, all the while, Winter wished there was something she could do to help them. Not just Padra and Creet, but the rest of the human race. It seemed like whoever had been able to survive the Future Kind had come here.

"It's like a refugee camp." Martha said, voicing Winter's thoughts to the rest of the group, but still, Winter couldn't help but agree to them all the same.

"Stinking." Jack said passing a large man who looked at him angrily. "Ooh, sorry. No offence." Ari rolled her eyes and slapped him on the back of the head roughly. "Ouch!" He cried rubbing his head.

"Quiet you idiot." She said still glaring. Jack only grinned at her and she rolled her eyes, annoyed at his behaviour.

"Don't you see that?" The Doctor asked smiling proudly. "The ripe old smell of humans. You survived. Oh, much better than a million years evolving into clouds of gas. And then another million as downloads, but you always revert back to the same basic shape. The fundamental humans."

Creet shouted out again for Padra's family but no answer came.

**"**End of the universe and here you are. Indomitable! That's the word! Indomitable! Ha!" As if to prove his point a woman shouted out to them and Padra rushed over to her, reunited with his family again. Everybody watched, happy that their new friend had found them.

"It's not all bad news." Martha grinned broadly at the scene and nobody could deny it.

**[][][]**

**"**Chan—welcome—tho."

The TARDIS had been found but while they had been waiting, apparently a professor of some kind had heard about the Doctor _somehow_ and had gone to them, asking for his help. No-one knew what he wanted help with and Winter could only guess, but still they followed him through the countless halls and rooms until they had reached their destination.

**"**This is the gravitissimal accelerator. It's part of the …" The Professor trailed off into the background as the rest of them filed into the room one at a time.

"Chan—welcome—tho."

**"**Hello. Who are you?" Martha asked the blue alien. She - becasue her voice sounded feminine at least - smiled at her. Her clickers stretching slightly with the smile.

**"**Chan—Chantho—tho." The Professor kept talking to the Doctor in the background as the rest of them introduced themselves to Chantho. It included polite smiles and a very hard slap on the head for Jack, who had gone for his usual 'hello.'

"And all this feeds into the rocket?" The Doctor asked after listening to the rest of the group go through the introductions. It seemed that Professor Yana needed help to build some type of rocket.

"Yeah, except without a stable footprint we'll never achieve escape velocity. If only we could harmonize the five impact patterns and unify them, well, we might yet make it. What do you think, Doctor? Any ideas?" He asked hopeful to finally have someone to help him.

"Well, um, basically…" He trailed off and Winter rolled her eyes at him.

"He basically has no clue what you're talking about Professor. Sorry." The Doctor glared at her, annoyed at what she had just said and ignoring the fact that he knew it was true.

"Nothing?" Yana asked downtrodden. He knew it wasn't a good idea to get his hoped up but the Doctor was a learned man; it was a possibility - however small - that he knew something about the science... and Yana had to try.

"I'm not from around these parts. I've never seen a system like it. Sorry."

**"**No, no. I'm sorry. It's my fault. There's been so little help." The Doctor truly did feel bad about not being able to help but there was little he could do. He turned when he heard a loud shout.

"Oh my God." He saw Martha set a hand on the table and recognised it instantly. "You've got a hand. A hand in a jar. A hand in a jar in your bag."

"That's—that's my hand!" He cried a little bit shocked.

"I said I had a Doctor detector." Jack said happily. Ari looked over to him a bit her lip trying to keep in the laugh that was bubbling at her lips.

"Chan—is this a tradition amongst your people—tho?" Chantho asked confused.

"Not on my street. What d'you mean that's your hand? You've got both your hands, I can see them." Martha looked closely, trying to see any difference between the Doctor's hands but she could seen none.

"Long story. I lost my hand Christmas Day. In a swordfight." He told her. Winter thought back to all the stories her doctor had told her but she didn't recognise any mention of that one.

"What? And you grew another hand?" She was still frowning and looking between the hands.

"Um yeah. Yeah I did. Yeah. Hello." He waved his fingers at her but Martha didn't smile.

"Might I ask what species are you?" Yana asked, curious as to what kind of biology allowed such a thing to happen. While they talked Winter went over to Martha and explained what would have actually happened.

"Timelord's regenerate right?" Martha nodded, knowing that. "But there is a period of time - around 15 hours- where if something happens to them, they can use their regeneration energy to fix it. The Doctor must have been in the first 15 hours for his hand to have grown back."

"But her grew another hand!" She was still trying to wrap her mind around the concept while also trying to figure out why _Winter_ knew about it when she had only just met the Doctor.

**"**Hello again." He must have heard Martha. "It's fine. Look. Really, it's me." He held out his hand and wiggled it. This time Martha did giggle but it was a nervous one.

**"**All this time and you're still full of surprises." The Doctor clicked his tongue in agreement and winked at her.

"Chan-you are most unusual—tho." She commented on their odd behaviour thinking back to her own civilisation and keeping back tears.

"Well…"  
"So what about those things outside? The...things. What are they?" Ari asked, moving over to where Jack was and taking hold of his hand. Jack smiled at her and raised their clasped hands to him lips and kissed them, comforting her hair.

"We call them the Futurekind. Which is a myth in itself, but, uh, it is feared they are what we will become. Unless we reach Utopia."

"And Utopia is…" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, every human knows of Utopia. Where have you been?" Thinking quickly, Winter intervened.

" He's a bit of a hermit." She told Yana, fighting off a smile at the look the others were giving her.

"A hermit with friends?" Yana asked, not quite believing what he was hearing. But then thinking about what had happened over the last few minutes he decided that it wasn't something that was that unusual.

"Oh yeh. He belongs to Hermits United. Meets up every ten years. Swap stories about caves. It's good fun…for a hermit. So, um, Utopia?" She had lost her flow a little way in the middle and so went back to the original topic they had started.

Yana crooked his finger and lead them to a computer that showed a navigational chart with a blinking red dot on it. "The call came from across the stars over and over again. Come to Utopia. Originated from that point."

"Where is that?" The Doctor asked looking at the screen next to Yana.

"Oh, it's far beyond the Condensate Wilderness." He told him. Winter could hear the longing and hope in the man's voice. "Out towards the wildlands and the dark matter reefs. Calling us in. The last of the humans. Scattered across the night."

"What do you think's out there?" She couldn't help but ask the question. Yana looked at the girl and smiled lightly.

"I don't know. A colony, a city, some sort of haven? The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve mankind—to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself. Now perhaps they found it. Perhaps not. But it's worth a look, don't you think?"

"Oh yes." Yana began looking off into the distance unaware the Doctor was speaking to him. "Professor? Professor?" He snapped back into reality and looked at the Doctor, who was staring worriedly.

"I—Right, that's enough talk. There's work to do. Now if you could leave. Thank you." He walked away.

"You all right?"

"Yes. I'm fine! And busy!" He said slightly irritant at the fact that there was nothing left that he could really do to make the rocket fly. All he had was hope. hope and the incessant drumming that plagued him every second.

"Except that rocket's not going to fly, is it?" Yana turned sharply towards the man. "This footprint mechanism thing, it's not working."

"We'll find a way!" He told the Doctor, but he could see it in the man's eyes. He didn't really believe that. _Well, we'll have to change that then wont we?_

"You're stuck on this planet. And you haven't told them, have you? That lot out there, they still think they're gonna fly." It wasn't a question, but Yana still felt he needed to answer it.

"Well, it's better to let them live in hope."

"Quite right, too. And I must say, Professor…" He removed his jacket and put it down on a nearby chair. "Um, what was it?"

"His name is Yana. You dolt." Ari said rolling her eyes at the man. "Do you have no attention span?" By the time she had said this, the Doctor had already began talking to the Professor and so her comment fell on deaf ears.

"Professor Yana. This new science is well beyond me, but all the same, a boost reversal circuit, in any time frame, must be a circuit which reverses the boost. So, I wonder, what would happen if I did this?" The Doctor picked up the circuit and used his Sonic Screwdriver on it before switching it on giving them power.

"Chan—it's working—tho!" Chantho exclaimed happily and also somewhat shocked.

"But how did you do that?" Yana asked, shocked at what had just happened.

"Oh, we've been chatting away. I forgot to tell you, I'm brilliant." The Doctor grinned. Winter moved over to look at the readings on the screen. _He is brilliant, but he's also got a big head too. _

**[][][]**

The Doctor and Yana were working on either sides of the cuircet board that Martha and Chantho had brought over for them. The two had laid it in the centre of the lab and immediately, the two scientist had began to work on it.

Everyone had a job to do, everyone except Ari - who had chosen to sit back and watch them all work, claiming that when it came to alien technology, she wasn't the one to call. Apparently, she had tried to fix something once and it ended up nearly destroying her best friend's car.

And then there was Winter.

She knew enough about what they were saying to help, or at the very least, she could have helped Martha. But when she had looked over to her, Martha had given her such a cold glare that Winter wondered if she was trying to freeze her.

She hadn't even bothered trying to help the Doctor. It would seem that showing up under odd circumstances and knowing more than an ordinary human should caused the Timelord to become suspicious. _Who knew?_

So that left her sitting down next to Ari, watching all of the bustle about. And Winter was bored. She began to watch Jack, as it seemed her sitting partner was and a thought occurred to her. "How did you and Jack meet?" She asked.

Ari looked over to the blonde and smiled fondly. "My best friend and I - Faith - went camping for her birthday and it happened to be in the exact location where a group of cannibals were living, which also happened to be what Jack and his team were investigating." Winter frowned and looked at the woman next to her. She didn't seem to be lying but then again...

Seeing her face Ari laughed quietly at her. "Yeh, I know. Not your average first meeting, but hey, we all managed to get out of it alive and somewhat unscathed."

"That's...good then...I guess," Witner murmured, watching the Doctor work. Ari watched Winter and smiled slightly.

"What's up with you and big head over there?" She asked motioning to the Doctor.

"It's uh, complicated." Winter told her. Ari gave her the 'try me' look and Winter sighed. "The first time I met him I was 13. He crashed into my yard and then ate all this food and left. The next time I saw him was 8 years later. He saved us from an alien invasion and asked me to travel with him, two years later anyway. So I did. Anyway long story short, we went on adventures, had a good time, ran a lot and then went back to the TARDIS."

"So why does he seem to be avoiding you like the plague?" Ari asked her cautiously. She had seen the way Winter had looked at the man and had also seen the looks he gave her most of the time. It did not look like he trusted her.

"Because this is the first time he's met me." At the frown Ari gave, Winter went to explain. "The Doctor, as you are well aware is a time traveller. Ergo, he doesn't always meet people in the right order. This is the first time he's ever met me and I didn't give such a great first impression so he's very...suspicious, I guess."

"And it must be killing you on the inside." It wasn't a question so Winter didn't answer it. She only looked at Ari and bit her lip.

"If Jack didn't know who you were, or he didn't trust you, wouldn't you feel like dying on the inside?" Neither girl talked after that. They just stared at the other's working hard.

The only time they were interupted was when Atillo's voice came over ther speaker. "Professor, tell the Doctor we've found his blue box."

"Ah!" They heard the Doctor cry.

"Doctor." Jack called from where he was working. The Doctor moved around the room, almost jumping about with happiness, ingroring the rest of them who were looking at him like he was crazy.

"Professor, it's a wild stab in the dark, but I may just have found you a way out."

He ran into the TARDIS and came out holding a huge black wire in both hands, inserting it into the outlet. "Extra power. Little bit of a cheat, but who's counting? Jack, you're in charge of the retro-feeds."

By now, Winter and Ari were standing up looking at the TARDIS. "That's the TARDIS?" Ari asked. "It doesn't really look like much does it?" Winter wasn't paying attention; she was too busy trying to remember what her Doctor had told her about this adventure.

Because she knew something bad was going to happen. In fact, it wasn't just that, she could actually feel that something bad was going to happen to them but Winter for the life of her couldn't figure out what it was.

"Oh, am I glad to see that thing." She heard Martha in the background. Still though, she didn't pay attention. She just couldn't remember what was going to happen and right now, she needed to. _But the thing is,_ she thought, _the Doctor didn't tell me I was here; he couldn't so that means that I have to figure out what I have to do myself. _

_Come on Winter. Think, think, think. What is it that I can do? He told me about Ari, well at least he sort of told me about her…Come on!_ Out of frustration, Winter hit the outside of the TARDIS.

As she did so, images flew through her head. Images of what had happened to her all the way up to what was happening now. Everything she had done so far was shown to her and then once it had caught up, she saw what was going to happen.

The pain, the destruction, the horror. And all because of the Master.

Winter retracted her hand sharply with a gasp and suddenly, she knew what she had to do. "Are you alright Winter?" Ari asked placing a hand gently on the girls shoulder. She was worried about her, she had gotten very pale. Paler than she actually was.

"No - no Ari you need to trust me now. It's not going to be easy and you'll have to leave Jack but I need you to do something for me." Winter was panicking and Ari could see it. She was asking her to trust the girl after only knowing her for a few hours, but somehow Ari did.

"Alright. Okay. Tell me what to do."

**[][][]**

Ari had gone. She had waited until Jack had gone down with the Doctor and then she had left using her Teleporter. She had created it using one of the more basic Vortex Manipulators that had fallen through the rift as a template and had tweaked it.

It had taken a while, but eventually she had managed to find a way to use the team's DNA as a tracking device. In theory she could locate any of her team in any country and in any point in time. It was a theory that she had proven when Jack had disappeared and right now she couldn't be happier to have it working.

Ari found herself in a room. Immediately she saw that it was Owen's room and immediately she covered her eyes. Owen was a prick in her opinion and he was also a man whore. He constantly had a girl in his bed and he was always coming in drunk.

When she heard nothing she opened her eyes and saw that Owen was passed out on his sofa. Rolling her eyes she walked over to him and shook him hard. "Owen, Owen get up." He murmured slightly but nothing else happened. She tried again and still nothing happened. She let out a sigh of frustration and then an idea came to her.

Smiling, Ari went over to his sink and filled a glass of water. She was still smiling as she walked back to Owen. "I am not sorry about this," she muttered before chucking the water on his face.

Owen, suddenly feeling something cold on his face jumped up. "Shit!" He went to punch whoever was near him but they caught his hand and flipped it. "Ow! Get off!"

Ari rolled her eyes again and let his hand go. "Owen it's me." She told him, still holding onto her hand. "Only me so don't do anything stupid." With that she let go of his hand and she watched as he rubbed it gently.

"What are you doing here?" He asked angrily.

"I have it on a very good source that in 18 months, the world is going to fall under a incredibly dangerous threat and we need to start working on a way to help people now!" Owen looked at her. He believed her, her and her sources had managed to save their arses a good few times so there was no question what she was saying was true.

"What do we do?" He asked. Ari smiled slightly and began to tell him their plan.

**[][][]**

Winter watched from beside the TARDIS as the scene fell into chaos.

She could hear the words Martha was speaking that would inevitably be the downfall of the human race and there was nothing she could do to stop it. If she did, the timelines would collapse , creating a alternate reality where she had no idea what would happen.

At least, that was what her Doctor had told her once. And she watched, as the Doctor talked with a hint of hope in his flustered voice. "This thing, this device, it rewrites biology, changes a Timelord into a human."

"And it's the same watch." Martha told him sincerely.

"It can't be." The Doctor told her. _But it is Doctor, and I am sorry because everything will be changed soon._ From her spot, she heard an alarm bell blare through the speakers and then it was shut off.

Winter turned her head towards YANA. He was still looking at the fobwatch intently, like he was trying to place where he had found the watch but he couldn't. She looked at him as his hands clutched his head and his old face scrunched in - what Winter could only assume was an intense pain.

Winter found herself wondering how the Master had become what he had. Where he had turned wrong. The TARDIS hadn't told her much of the Doctor's personal life but she had seen enough from the Time Machine to know that they had been very close once. It was a hidden thought at the back of the connection the TARDIS had given her.

And this connection she had formed with the TARDIS had stayed once her hand had left her. She could hear the soft hum in her mind…feel the caressing strokes that she was giving her, to comfort her for what was to come. _"Be brave my dear Swan. Things will turn out fine in the end." _The soft made Winter smile slightly and she hoped that what was to come would affect the Doctor too badly. For she knew it was too much to hope that he would come out fine, even if she were to play her part in the plan with perfection; the Master would be adamant to ensure that the Doctor would suffer as much pain as was possible, but she still hoped to lessen it.

And then she heard it. It was soft but dominating. And it wanted to be heard. "The drums, the drums, the drums. The never-ending drumbeat. Open me, you human fool. Open the light and summon me and receive my majesty."

_"It is time to begin my Swan. Be strong and know that I am always with you." _Winter turned and opened the door to the TARDIS and tried to contain the tears as she realised there was nothing she could do for Chantho.

Leaning against the console, she took in a deep breath. _"Now what?" _She asked.

_" The Master will go to Earth as it is the Doctor's weak point. He will try to integrate himself into human life and to do so will go as far back as possible, the Doctor however, will be able to lock the co-ordinates between now and the last place he visited on Earth." _She nodded in understanding so far. _"You must align the central navigation system and lock in the following co-ordinates. This will ensure that the Master only has an 18 month period in which to work."_

Winter followed the instructions closely. There was no room for error now, if she did, things would go catastrophically wrong.

Once she finished that she asked what else needed to be done. _"You need an identity. The Amber of this time is in Australia, researching her powers. You need to become invisible, only to be shown when there is no longer any hope." _A whirring sound fell from the console and small necklace was shown to her.

It had interloping circles, some small and some big; the largest was ringed with bigger circles and the smaller ones formed a tear shape. There were thin gold lines cutting through the circles and small dots around them. They seemed to be random however looking closer, Winter found she understood some of it. _'Protection.'_

_"What is it?" _Winter asked breathlessly.

_"It's a perception filter. It's stronger than the average one so you should only be seen by who and when you want. Use it to watch over and help the others because they will need it and when the time comes, you must use all your power to help the humans." _

_"But when will I know?" _She asked the TARDIS whilst putting on the necklace and tucking it under her shirt.

_"I will tell you my Swan. Do not fret." _ WInter's head snapped towards the door as she heard it opening. Quickly, she hid in a corner of the room and watched as the Master limped into the TARDIS clutching him side fiercely.

"Deadlocked." He said happily, pressing a button on the console. At the closer look, Winter could see the blood staining the once white shirt that was now ladled with dirt and dust. She could hear the Doctor faintly from outside the door.

**"**Let me in! Let me in!" He cried. She also heard Martha cry out with shock when she saw that Chantho was dead. The Master was ignoring them all, focusing on the bullet wound in his side. "

"Just let me in!" She heard the Doctor shout again.

"Killed by an insect! A girl! How inappropriate. Still, if the Doctor can be young and strong, then so can I. The Master…reborn." From where she was hiding, Winter could see the bright golden light explode out of him. It was the same light that she saw the first time she met her Doctor. And just like then, he let out a scream.

Finally it was over and in the old man's place was a very familiar face. "Ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha!" He ran around the console, arms flung out. "Ha, ha, ha!" And just like she knew he would, Winter heard the Master begin to gloat. "Doctor—ooh, new voice. Hello, hello, hello." He began, testing his voice. "Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me? I don't think!"

Winter stared at the man in shock. She had known, or at least, the TARDIS had shown her who he was but up until that moment, she didn't register the fact that he was who he was.

The Doctor's voice could be heard over the speaker pleading with the insane man. "I'm asking you really properly! Just stop! Just think!"

"Use my name." He demanded.

"Master. I'm sorry." He said quietly and winter's heart flipped in misery for the Timelord.

"Tough!" The sound that Winter had come to know well started up in the large room, echoing through the halls. Winter began making her way backwards, constantly keeping both her eyes on the Master in front of her. Phase one was completed, now began the beginning of the second and to do that, she needed to know that Ari had done her task.

The TARDIS, in all her loyalty did whatever she could to stop the renegade but it wasn't enough. "Oh, no you don't!" He cried, making the column move once more. "End of the Universe. Have fun. Bye bye!"

Oh and have fun he could, The Master thought grinning. The End of the Universe was, ironically enough, the beginning of his rain of the unworthy apes.

Let them all fall down in submission to their Lord and Master.

* * *

**Yeh so, i hope you liked it, and i hope Winter's thoughts werent confusing. I would like to thank Browwnbug (thanks for wishing me luck on collage), georgie8t(hope you liked it) and Theta-McBride (thank you for reviewing). Also thanks to all who have read, followed and favourited. **

**Here is what the necklace looks like. . **


	11. Chapter 8

**I know it's short and i know it's long but think of it as a filler chapter. And i'm sorry but i have GCSE's in January and so i'll be studying for those so i wouldnt expect any updates any time soon guys. **

**A HUGE SPECIAL thank you to Mikki18 (are you new?)  
**** grapejuice101 (i'm so glad you love it so far. I'm trying to change it as much as possible.)  
Brownbug (yep, do you like Ari? There's a hint there if you can get it...)  
georgie8t (I will, ASA GCSE's are over)  
Theta-McBride (You never know in Doctor Who)  
**

* * *

All's Fair In Hate and War

A cool breeze blew through the air and Winter pulled up the hood of her coat tighter around herself, the silver necklace she had worn for the last 9 months was still covered and because of it, no one could see the white haired girl.

Using this to her advantage, Winter walked up the stairs of one of the most well known buildings in London; Big Ben.

And there was a specific reason why she was going to the tower; there was a small device, no bigger than the size of a rose that was hiding inside the clock. Its purpose was simple. To disconnect any psychic connection any human being had to the Arch Angel Network.

It had taken her a month to build using the technology she could find from Torchwood and in that month, the Network had been set up. 11 satalights had been sent up and as far as Winter could tell, there were four more that were going up there with them.

Winter had found something fishy when the Arch Angel Network had first started. Almost overnight it had been planted into phones. New makes and models were retracted in order to be 'upgraded' to the supposed better network.

And it was a good network. Winter remembered all her friends in Ashford telling her how good it was but she refused to change her phone network. She had even refused to give her phone in when she needed it to be fixed. Because even then, something about it didn't feel right and the small beeping noise it made just annoyed her.

And so with the help of the TARDIS who was still communicating with her via the link, she created the Phrenic Inhibitor. There was another problem though; she hadn't heard from Ari for a while. She had asked her to look up information about the AAN. The last she had heard of them, her and the team were in America looking for a Dr Ashton Knightly but that had been 2 weeks ago.

It had happened before, Ari had been doing something and hadn't called her for days but this time it didn't feel good. Winter worried that she had sent her friend off into a trap but she had no way of knowing.

She opened the door to the clock tower and went over to the small hole in the wall that was covered by wood. Pulling the pieces off, she reached in and grabbed the bundle that lay there in the dark. She only needed one more piece to make it work but that piece was going to be the hardest.

The Phrenic Inhibitor was somewhat sentient. Not enough to be able to think and feel but enough so that it could differentiate between a human that did have the connection and the ones that didn't. Therein was where the problem lied.

She needed a human that didn't have the connection.

She had wondered for a brief time whether or not she was considered human any more. Her brain was growing and the Timelord knowledge was being filtered through slowly – this she knew, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to build the Inhibitor – but she didn't have two hearts yet.

_Will it work if I do it? _She wondered to herself. Suddenly she felt the motherly hum of the TARDIS in her mind. Opening up the link enough so that she could hear her, she breathed a sigh of relief. _"I'm so glad to hear you," _she said happily.

"_And I you my Swan." _Winter felt a small mental caress and her smile grew larger. _"I cannot talk for long, the Master is closely monitoring my activities. What do you need child?" _

"_I need to know if it will work." _She sent the ideas threw to the TARDIS and waited patiently. After a while, Winter heard the hum of approval.

"_It is possible that the Bond you have with him will increase the strength of the Inhibitor." _She said happily. Winter found herself nodding with the happiness. _"I have to go my Swan. The Master will soon be able to tell if I don't." _Winter wasn't even given a chance to say goodbye before the connection was cut and she was left all alone.

She began once again working on the Inhibitor, continuing on far into the afternoon, past lunch and - finally - at around 4, she had finished. The Inhibitor was now working. Now was the easiest bit: getting the device up to the highest point of the clock tower.

Really it was. Winter had practiced with her powers; experimenting with how far she could go and she now knew that she healed at a incredibly quick pace. It seemed as though her power was the ability to manipulate the molecules which in turn allowed her to make air dense or allow her to walk on water.

It was as simple as picturing the molecules doing what she wanted them to do. She commanded them and they obeyed –and it went against a lot of what she had learned in physics but she wasn't complaining.

Winter closed her eyes and pictured the molecules hardening around the Inhibitor and raising it over her head. When she opened her eyes she saw that it was high above her head and making its way to the top of Big Ben.

Happily she smiled. Once it reached the top, her job would be half way over.

**[][][]**

Two more months had passed. Two moths and in those months, Winter had had no contact with anyone.

Ari and her team hadn't contacted her and though she knew that the Master had probably sent them somewhere and they probably weren't in that much trouble, she still worried about them. Whatever bond she had formed with Ari over the last 11 months was odd but Winter knew it was something.

She hadn't managed to gain contact with the TARDIS either. Something had happened to her but Winter didn't know what. The TARDIS – with whatever had happened to her - had managed to shield Winter from whatever she was enduring.

She could still feel something though. She felt sick whenever she tried to contact the TARDIS; it was like when a human had a bad fever, they were in pain and sick and almost numb all at the same time and when she tried to contact her, that was exactly what Winter felt.

Anger bubbled up in her when she thought about what the Master was doing that would make her feel like this. _He needs to pay for what he's done, never mind what he will do! _But at the moment, there was nothing Winter could do about him.

There was a month left before the world turned to hell and she had to use that month wisely, meaning she now had to get a job working for the Master – or as she would soon have to call him: Mr Saxon.

**[][][]**

She had gotten the job. She didn't quite know what it was that she was seeing as the Master ignored her half the time and the other half her looked at her like there was something he couldn't remember about her. She supposed that it had something to do with the Perception Filter she had on and Winter found herself thanking the TARDIS once again.

In truth, she spent more time in a room with Lucy Saxon that she did with him and most of the time, she felt sorry for the woman; it seemed like she was under his control, but then, in the next minute she would seem fine.

Winter wondered if Lucy was aware of what was happening. If she knew the man she had married wasn't even a man at all, but a monster that was lurking in plain sight – waiting for the time when he could rise up and squash them all like ants under a boot.

But then, there were times – a few minutes every so often that Winter wondered how it was that the Master had chosen her for a wife. Because there was no doubt about it; the Master was a genius, and yet, he had chosen a woman that seemed like a complete air head!

At the moment though, Winter didn't have time to worry about that. As far as she could tell, her job description included making lunch for the two Saxon's. The Master was running for Prime Minister, and with whatever he had done to the rest of them, Winter was sure that he was going to win.

Yet both he and Lucy still insisted on being seen in public as much as possible and so they would have lunch together every Thursday afternoon, and because the Master liked _unpredictable,_ they had to eat at a different restaurant each week.

"Where are we going today Natalie?" Winter had made sure there were a full set of records on Natalie Johnson – a young, American woman who had studied politics in Yale, graduating with honours. She had come to London in hopes of finding a job, but as luck would have it, she found nothing – at least until Mrs Saxon had hired her on recommendations from a Mr James Marcus. She had laughed at the name Tosh had chosen but thanked her all the same.

"I believe _Le Jardin D'Ivoire,_ Mrs Saxon. It's a new restaurant but serves the best food you've ever tasted. It also needs the publicity, so it's killing two birds with one stone." Winter smiled at her softly and Lucy smiled back, pleased at the thought.

"Perfect. It's been such a long time since I've been to a French restaurant." Winter had to hold her tongue at the look the woman was giving as she said that, and, once again she wondered why the Master had chosen her.

"Where will we be picking Mr Saxon up today Ma'am?" She asked politely.

Lucy checked her phone slightly and then slipped it back into the purse she ad with her. "I believe he is with Lord Sugar, discussing details of a new upgrade." Lucy grinned and got into the car as the driver opened the door for her.

Winter nodded and smiled at the old man, Matthew, his name was, and got into the car after her. Honestly, Winter wasn't sure the Master was with Lord Sugar. If she were to bet on where he was, she would guess wherever he was keeping the TARDIS. Again, Winter fought back a wave of anger at the Master. It was his fault, and when this was over, she was going to find a way to make him pay.

Right now though, all she could do was sit back, wait, and try not to kill the wife of the future Prime Minister.

* * *

**There was 1 1/2 movie referances in there, can anyone see it? and _Le Jardin D'Ivoire means _The Ivory Garden btw. **

**Review and enjoy. **


	12. Chapter 9

**Heh, sorry guys...i didnt mean to but i'm still really sorry for such a long wait. It's going to be hard because i'm changing the plot for the next chapter, and after that, Winter may go off by herself. What do you think?**

* * *

The Sound of Hearts

Winter watched the Master walk to the steps of Saxon Headquarters after going to the Palace to have a meeting the Queen and the Royal Family. This was it.

The Master had become Prime Minister, he now basically had all of the United Kingdom under his control – not that he needed the title in the first place. The remainder of the AAN had gone up and even though Winter had got the Inhibitor to work some time ago, the Master seemed to be a natural at control.

His natural ability was so strong that for many of the humans, it was overriding any and all protection the Inhibitor gave them. It hadn't been so bad at first, but then, one by one the rest of the satalights were launched until all 15 were in space.

"Mr Saxon, this way, sir. Come on, kiss for the lady, sir." She heard a photographer ask. Winter refrained from shaking her head. It had been like this since he had won, and now – everywhere they went, they would have people stalking him and Lucy.

It didn't help that Winter was supposed to be in hiding. If her younger self saw her on the TV, it would all become very complicated, and even though she had taken measures before applying for the job, namely dying her hair a blending shade of brown, and had bought contacts that would darken the bright green eyes, she didn't want to take the chance.

The Master stood forward to speak to the press and what he said next gave Winter all she needed to know. "This country has been sick. This country needs healing. This country needs medicine. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that, what this country really needs, right now…is a doctor." As he smiled, a small and unnoticed frown appeared on the brunette's face. _It's time. _

**[][][]**

Knowing what was going to happen very soon Winter made her way over to Lucy. "Excuse me Mrs Saxon?" The blonde woman looked up from a letter she was signing to Winter.

"What is it dear?" She asked kindly. Winter gave her a weak smile. Lucy Saxon was a kind woman, she had proved it quite a few times and once again it made Winter wonder why it was her, the Master had chosen.

"I uh…I feel a bit queasy Mrs Saxon. Would you mind terribly if I was to go home for the day?" She made herself look sick and a little shaky.

Lucy looked the girl over; she was pale and small tremors could be seen. Natalie had rarely missed a day of work since she had started working for her a few months ago and when she did she was very sick. And looking at the girl now, Lucy could tell it was the case again. "Of course dear. You do look quite pale, I think you should go home. Should I call you a taxi?"

Winter shook her head slightly. "No, that's fine Mrs Saxon. I think I can manage. Goodbye." She walked to a street and called for a cab. Soon one pulled up beside her. "Big Ben please." The driver looked at her through the mirror and she rolled her eyes. "There'll be a tip if you just move now!" He nodded and started driving. The plan was simple.

By now, the Doctor was back on Earth with Martha and Jack - _just in time to see the Master was Prime Minister, _sounded a small bitter part of her brain. She shook it off and continued going over the plan.

The Doctor was back and sooner or later the Master would make his presence known to the whole of London somehow - probably in a way that would cause as much drama as was possible - so they would have to go into hiding.

Where they would hide was tricky; they couldn't go to Martha's and Torchwood wasn't secure as the Master had placed bugs or whatever in there. Wherever they went, Winter wouldn't know. Which was why she was so grateful to Ari for giving her Jack's number.

When Winter got to the tower, she paid the man and walked round the back. There were stairs leading up around back and Winter climbed up them. Using the phone she had bought 2 days ago, she punched in Jack's number and waited for the phone to be picked up.

**[][][]**

With no place left to go, Jack, Martha and the Doctor went to Martha's house. It was a tupid idea, the Doctor knew but there was no place to go - the Master could have bugs anywhere. "But he's got the TARDIS. Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades." It was a good idea and it would have worked.

"No." the doctor said bluntly, looking at Martha who was looking out the window.

"Why not? Worked for me."

The Doctor paused, he was wondering that as well. "Just before he was set off in the TARDIS, I tried to lock the co-ordinates, permanently. But somehow, it was already done. The Screwdriver picked it up - they were already locked between here and the year one hundred trillion - well, with a bit of leeway I suppose." The other two looked at him, the question burning in their eyes.

"How much leeway?" Jack asked. The doctor thought about it for a moment.

"Well, eighteen months, tops. The most he could have been here is eighteen months. So how has he managed all this? The Master was always sort of hypnotic, but this is on a massive scale." Just as he said that, Jack's phone began ringing. It was shrill and loud and honestly, it made Martha jump slightly. And - as her heart was already racing - she wasn't sure that was such a good thing.

"Hello?" It was a hesitant hello, Jack didn't quite know who had this number apart from Torchwood. As he thought of Torchwood his heart fell to his stomach. Where was Ari? He hadn't seen her, she hadn't contacted him at all. For all her knew she was - no! No, he wasn't going to think about that.

_"Jack!"_ He knew that voice, and a guilty feeling washed over him as he realised he hadn't thought of her at all either.

"Winter!" A small smile on his face. "Hold on, let me put you on speaker." He took the phone from his ear and held it out ignoring the small scowl Martha had on her face. "Winter what happened to you?"

"That's what I'd like to know," The Doctor said taking off the glasses he had managed to put on some time ago. There was a pause from the other side of the phone.

_"That's not important,"_ they heard her say. _"What you need to know is that the Master has been using the ArchAngel Network as a phone network to broadcast his hypnosis worldwide. Everyone has a phone with the AAN." _The Doctor's eyes widened hugely and grabbed Martha's phone from the side table.

Taking off the back, he soniced it, and then read the results. Sure enough, there was a strong but subtle sound coming from the phone. _Dum-dum-dum-dum. Dum-dum-dum-dum. _Over and over again.

_"He faked the pictures and the documents, up until about 20 months ago, he didn't exist, and then when he did, he put up the AAN. I've been working on a Phrenic Inhibitor to-" _

"Working on _what_?" The Doctor had grabbed the phone off Jack and was holding up to his mouth, making his voice sound louder than it was - and it was already loud. "How are you doing that? Humans don't even have the _beginnings_ of the mental development needed too make it, never mind the technology!"

_"It doesn't matter,"_ she began again but the Doctor wasn't having it.

"No, it _does_ matter! You show up out of nowhere and have knowledge that no human could have. Who are you!" It wasn't a question, it was a demand but Winter was not going to give anything up, at least not yet.

_"You're just going to have to trust me."_ She told him quietly. Everyone could hear her sigh over the phone.

"Trust you? I don't even know you. For all we know, you could be working with the Master." The other two held their breath, waiting for the girl to blow up, but nothing happened.

_"Then don't trust me. Ask Jack what Ari told him before she left - oh and if you need more proof, scan for an increase in psychic development. The Sonic will tell you it's coming from an external source. That's the Inhibitor." _There was a pause before she began talking again. _"Just make sure that your out the house in the next seven minutes because if I'm right, then the Master would have been waiting for you too." _

There was a click indicating the end of the phone call and the Doctor chucked the phone back at Jack before rushing around the room checking for something.

Less than thirty seconds later, he found what he was looking for.

There behind the T.V, was a pipe bomb set off to explode in six minutes. Winter was right.

Using the Sonic, he disabled the bomb and took it from behind the T.V where Martha gasped.

Tugging on his hair, he groaned. That woman was a menace. There was no way that she was telling the truth, much less was a human. No, there was something odd about her and the Doctor was going to find out what it was.

"I was going to vote for him." Martha said, sounding shocked at what she had just found.

"Really?" Jack asked. He had seen the reaction the Doctor had had to Winter's call and had found it extremely funny. The man was getting a taste at what he dished out at others - sure, it wasn't bad what he did, it just left everyone in the room confused and dazed. And that was kind of what Winter had done to him.

"Well, it was before I even met the Doctor, or you," she said nodding in the Doctor's direction. "And I liked him."

"Yeh, me too." Jack agreed. "But then it must have been the Master's voodoo hypnosis thing 'cause I don't even remember why. All I know is that a few months ago, he started sounding…off." Jack frowned in recollection. Now that he thought about it, it had been around the time the Master got a new secretary. He remembered seeing her and thinking she was pretty hot for a secretary.

"But, it was like you could trust him." The Doctor watched, his eyed widening as Martha started tapping on the table, a beat of four -_ dum-dum-dum-dum. Dum-dum-dum-dum. _"Just nice. He spoke about. I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice."

As the Doctor watched, he realised what had happened. "Winter was right!" It was annoying to say it but he had to. "The Master must be using something to broadcast the hypnosis but-" Something blared out from the laptop and a pop up showed _Saxon Broadcast All Channels_, in bold letters. The Doctor turned on the TV, waiting to see what the Master would say. "Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom."

**[][][]**

Winter sighed as she dropped her phone. She knew it would be hard - of course it was going to be hard. She was trying to change something that she was sure was going to happen anyway. She trying to stop a psychopath from destroying her home, her friends, her planet, and she was trying to do it from a small room inside of Big Ben.

It was a crazy but very thought out plan that she wouldn't be able to do without the help of the TARDIS. She owed that girl her life, and she didn't know how she was going to repay her, but she was.

And yet, the hardest and probably the most stupid thing about this whole situation was how hard it had been to be around this Doctor.

Winter laughed at her own stupidity and the tears rolling down her eyes but it was the truth. She was breaking apart from the inside because the man she had fallen in love with - after only a few short months with him - was somebody else.

The Doctor she was used to was kind, funny, talked a thousand miles an hour and was silly and very clumsy. This doctor, he was alien.

Sure he still talked like he had been drinking RedBull and had taken a dose of speed on the side, but he wasn't silly, he wasn't clumsy, he was…older in a way. And while the rational part of her brain knew that wasn't true and was in fact, the exact opposite, the other part told her that he was.

And it was odd. But Winter couldn't really deal with that now. The Master was about to make his grand speech - the stepping stone to the end of the world. And all she could do was sit back and wait.

Because by now, if the Doctor had listened to her, they should have found whatever the Master had planted and hopefully disabled it. But still, Winter knew it wouldn't be enough. The Master was going to make the Doctor's life as miserable as he could once this whole thing started, that she knew.

But that didn't mean that he wasn't going to make this hard for him _now._

Winter got up from the makeshift seat and walked over to the tower window. _Wherever you are Doctor, good luck. _

**[][][]**

"Master." The Doctor had known that they should have just left but he understood why Martha had needed to check up on her family. He also understood the panicked faces Jack seemed to be making every time he couldn't get through to Ari on the phone. Rassilion knew what the Master had done to them.

_"I like it when you use my name." _He could just imagine the grin that was on the Master's face right now.

"You chose it. Psychiatrist's field day."

_" As you chose yours. The man who makes people better."_ He spat through the phone. _"How sanctimonious is_ that_?"_

"So, Prime Minister, then."

"I know." Again, the smile that must be on his face. "It's good, isn't it?" Somewhere, at the Back of the Doctor's mind, he could almost convince himself they were back in their Academy days, talking about something so much more innocent and happy. But then, he brought himself back to reality.

Gallifrey was gone, and the Master was no longer the man he knew, the friend who would help him with almost anything. "Who are those creatures? Because there's no such thing as the Toclafane. It's just a made up name, like the Bogeyman."

_"Do you remember?"_ The Master asked, solemn now. _"All those fairy tales about the Toclafane when we were kids." _Oh The Master remembered alright. The amount of times he had scared the Doctor with those stories when they were children. "_Back home. Where is it, Doctor?"_

"Gone."

_"How can Gallifrey be gone?"_

"It burnt." Was the Doctor's short reply.

_"And the Time Lords?"_

"Dead." He replied, knowing what the Master was going to ask. "And the Daleks, more or less. What happened to you?"

_"The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War." _There was the clear bitterness in his voice as he recalled what had once happened. _"I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it. I ran. I ran so far. Made myself human so they would never find me, because I was so scared."_

**"**I know." The Doctor told him sincerely. Sadly.

_"All of them?"_ He asked but didn't wait for a response. _"But not you, which must mean-"_

"I was the only one who could end it. And I tried. I did. I tried everything."

_"What did it feel like, though?" _And it was from then, that the Doctor knew that the Master was only going to get worse. _"Two almighty civilisations burning. Oh, tell me, how did that feel?"_

"Stop it!" He demanded, not wanting to hear it.

"You must have been like God." He _needed _the Master to stop. He needed it so badly because the truth was, that when he had been standing there, watching what he had done, hearing their faint screams, the Doctor, for one brief, short moment, had felt like God. And that had scared him more than anything in the world.

"I've been alone ever since. But not anymore. Don't you see? All we've got is each other."

_**"**__Are you asking me out on a date?" _

"You could stop this right now." He offered. "We could leave this planet. We can fight across the constellations, if that's what you want, but not on Earth."

There was a small pause, as if the Mater was thinking about it, and the Doctor had a small sense of hope. But soon, it was dashed as the Master told him, _"too late."_

But still, the Doctor had to keep trying. "Why do you say that?"

_"The drumming."_ As though it was the most obvious thing in the world. _"Can't you hear it? I thought it would stop, but it never does. Never ever stops. Inside my head, the drumming, Doctor. The constant drumming."_

"I could help you. Please, let me help."

_"It's everywhere. Listen, listen, listen. Here come the drums. Here come the drums."_

And then the Doctor heard it. He turned around and watched as a man, standing against the wall began tapping out the beat on his thigh, completely unaware of what he was doing. "What have you done?" The Doctor asked horrified. He hadn't known that the Master had _this much control_ over everyone. "Tell me how you've done this. What are those creatures? Tell me!"

From the Cabinet Room, the Master watched as the three of them dances around, smiling to himself. _"Ooh look. You're on TV."_

"Stop it. Answer me!"

_"No, really. You're on telly. You and your little band, which, by the way, is ticking every demographic box. So, congratulations on that. Look, there you are." _The ticker was saying they were terrorists, it even had their pictures. And a news reporter was telling the world that they were all incredibly dangerous.

_"You're public enemies number one, two and three."_ The Doctor could hear the grin back on the Master's face now. _"Oh, and you can tell handsome Jack that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas, so he won't be getting any help from them." _

Jack swore profusely. What had that son of a bitch done to them? Done to Ari? "_Now, go on, off you go. Why not start by turning to the right?" _

They did as they were told and looked towards the right. There was a CCTV camera that was showing them, themselves. "He can see us." The Doctor zapped the CCTV with his Sonic Screwdriver.

"_Oh, you public menace."_ He said, grumpily. _"Better start running. Go on, run."_

"He's got control of everything." The Doctor told them.

"What do we do?" Martha asked worriedly. They were trapped.

"We've got nowhere to go." Jack added, still mad about not knowing what had happened to his team.

"Doctor, what do we do?"

With his ear still near the phone, the Doctor heard the Master's command_. "Run, Doctor. Run for your life!" _And they would have to do the only thing the Doctor could think of.

"We run."

**[][][]**

Martha had just come back from getting some takeaway. They had to eat after all, even if they were now…fugitives - at least, in the eyes of the public. "How was it?" Jack asked, looking up from what he had been doing.

"I don't think anyone saw me." He nodded in relief at that and continued with what he was doing. "Anything new?"

"I've got this tuned to government wavelengths so we can follow what Saxon's doing." He showed her the computer screen but Martha couldn't make heads or tails of the thing. But she didn't exactly care that much about Saxon right now.

"Yeah, I meant about my family."

"It still says the Jones family taken in for questioning." He saw Martha's face drop and so continued. "Tell you what, though. No mention of Leo."

She smiled at that. "He's not as daft as he looks. I'm talking about my brother on the run. How did this happen?"

"Nice chips." Jack had tucked into the bag of fish and chips that Martha had brought back.

"Actually, they're not bad." The Doctor said, agreeing with Jack.

"So, Doctor, who is he? How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?"

"And what is he to you? Like a colleague or…" Martha trailed off, waiting for the Doctor to fill in the missing pieces.

"A friend, at first."

"I thought you were going to say he was your secret brother or something." Martha joked. Well, she was kind of joking. You never knew when it came to the Doctor, and he had said - or at least implied that he had lost a brother when he had first met her as John Smith, in the hospital.

"You've been watching too much TV." The Doctor said rolling his eyes, but grinning at her.

"But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect." Jack had remembered those legends. The way people told it, Gallifrey was a beautiful planet - both the scenery and the people.

"Well, perfect to look at, maybe. And it was. It was beautiful." He got a faraway look as he recounted his home. "They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the Continent of Wild Endeavour, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords, the oldest and most mighty race in the universe, looking down on the galaxies below.

"Sworn never to interfere, only to watch. Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families age of eight to enter the Academy. And some say that's when it all began. When he was a child. That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation.

"He stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired, some would run away, and some would go mad. Brr. I don't know."

"What about you?" Martha asked delicately. He had never really talked about his past, and when he had it was when Martha herself had pulled up a chair and promised him she wouldn't leave until he told her the truth. Even then, it had only been about what his planet had looked like - never about himself.

"Oh, the ones that ran away, I never stopped." He smiled at her a little just as Jack's bracelet beeped.

"What was that? Martha asked, going to stand next to Jack.

"Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognise it."

"Patch it through to the laptop." The Doctor told him, moving over to stand by his side quickly.

Jack hesitated for a minute, knowing what he was going to tell the Doctor wasn't something that he would particularly like."Since we're telling stories, there's something I haven't told you." As he said that, the Torchwood logo appeared on the screen of the laptop.

"You work for Torchwood!" The Doctor shouted, not quite believing what he was seeing.

"I swear to you, it's different. It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now." He promised. But that got him once again wondering where they were.

"Everything Torchwood did," he said angrily. "And you're part of it?"

But still Jack persisted. "The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it, I changed it, and when I did that, I did it for you in your honour." The Doctor hit play, not wanting to be reminded about what had happened then.

A woman appeared on the screen. _"If I haven't returned to my desk by twenty two hundred, this file will be emailed to Torchwood. Which means if you're watching this, then I'm... Anyway, the Saxon files are attached. But take a look at the ArchAngel document. That's when it all started. When Harry Saxon became Minister in charge of launching the ArchAngel Network."_

"But we already knew that. Winter told us." Jack remembered. Look, it's gone worldwide. They've got fifteen satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by ArchAngel now." And he wondered how he hadn't noticed that. Even his phone had the ArchAngel Network.

"Yes but how did she know? How did she know the Master was using the ArchAngel network to hypnotise, and how did she build the Phrenic Inhibitor?" He didn't expect answers, really he was just thinking out loud. "For all we know, she's in league with the Master. This could all be a trick. Because whatever it is he's doing, he's used that rhythm, in layers of code, Vote Saxon. Believe in me. Whispering to the world. Oh, yes!

"That's how he hid himself from me, because I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. The signal cancelled him out."

"Any way you can stop it?"

"Not from down here. But now we know how he's doing it."

"And we can fight back." Martha said happy to finally be able to do something.

"Oh, yes!" He disassembled parts of the phone and the laptop, and welded them sonically to their each of their TARDIS keys, explaining as he went along. "Three TARDIS keys. Three pieces of the TARDIS, all with low level perception properties because the TARDIS is designed to blend in. Well, sort of.

"But now, the ArchAngel Network's got a second low level signal. Weld the key to the network and Martha, look at me. You can see me, yes?"

"Yes." Martha told him.

He put the string with his key on it around his neck, "what about now?" He asked, and just like that, Martha found it almost impossible to look straight at him.

"No, I'm here. Look at me." He told her, hands in his pockets.

"It's like," she began, trying to explain it. "I know you're there, but I don't want to know."

The Doctor took the key off and instantly she could see him again. "And back again. See? It just shifts your perception a tiny little bit. Doesn't make us invisible, just unnoticed. Oh, I know what it's like. It's like, it's like when you fancy someone and they don't even know you exist. That's what it's like. Come on."

Jack looked at Martha, noticing the look of bewilderment, shock and embarrassment on her face. "You too, huh?"

**[][][]**

Later that night, Winter walked behind Lucy and the Master. She had called back, saying she was feeling much better and Mrs Saxon had told her to come in straight away. It seemed, almost as if the woman trusted her - if only a little. The Master didn't even seem to notice she was in the car on the way there. Just how she liked it.

Winter watched as the Master saluted the President of the United States. If she were being honest, she didn't even know his name. _Oh it's not like I care anyway, _she thought.

"Mister President, sir." The Master said with a smile on his face.

"Mister Saxon, the British Army will stand down." He told him, no room for argument. "From now on, UNIT has control of this operation."

"You make it sound like an invasion." There was still a smile on his face. Winter couldn't see it this time, but she could hear it in his voice.

"First Contact policy was decided by the Security Council in 1968, and you've just gone and ignored it."

"Well, you know what it's like. New job, all that paperwork. I think it's down the back of the settee. I did have a quick look. I found a pen, a sweet, a bus ticket and er, have you met the wife?" Winter roller her eyes discreetly. Apparently, all Timelords had the ability to fall completely off track.

What's-his-face President wasn't amused at the Master as much as Lucy probably was. "Mister Saxon, I'm not sure what your game is but there are provisions at the United Nations to have you removed from office unless you are very, very careful. Is that understood? Are you taking this seriously? To business. We've accessed your files on these Toclafane.

From the corner of her eye, Winter saw movement. She took out her phone and used it to check the reflection. Sure enough, she saw Martha, Jack and the Doctor move away and she smiled to herself slightly. It never occurred to her though, that she shouldn't have been able to see them.

When she brought herself back to the conversation, she found she must have missed a lot because the President had walked away and the Master and his wife were talking in hushed tones. "We should reach the Valiant within the hour. My darling."

One of the armed guards came and escorted Lucy away. She turned and told Winter to go with her and true to her part, Winter followed the woman. Just as she began leaving, she turned to see the Master looking at the place where the three of them were and her heart spiked in fear, wondering if he could actually see them.

She didn't get to answer the question though because Lucy pulled her into the Valliant. "Oh look at this place Natalie. Isn't it amazing." Winter nodded eagerly. She pulled up the plans on her phone, it had been slightly tampered with so she could see everything.

She also used it as a locater, much like Ari's teleport, it used people's DNA to find their location. She didn't have the Doctor's or Martha's DNA, but she did happen to have Jack's. Ari had given it to her before she left, along with the idea of her locator. All Winter had done was condense the technology onto her phone. It had taken up a lot of memory but she had just made sure to get additional hard drive for her phone.

She checked her phone, and sure enough, Jack had popped up on the screen in the engine room. She smiled slightly to herself and looked up. "Excuse me Mrs. Saxon. I'm going to see if there's anywhere to get a coffee. Would you like one?"

"Oh yes, thank you Natalie. I think I'm going to need one tonight." Lucy said still looking around the room.

"You're usual, Mrs Saxon?" Winter asked. Lucy only nodded and Winter went off to the engine room. She would have to make sure she remembered to get the coffee for her. Now that she thought of it, she could actually go for something to drink herself.

**[][][]**

"Oh, that thing is rough." Martha complained, holding onto her head and breathing hard for the second time that day.

"I've has worse nights." Jack told them, remembering fondly - well before Ari had come along. "Welcome to the Valiant."

"It's dawn?" Martha had seen out of the window noticing the sun peaking through. But that didn't make sense. "Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea?"

"A ship for the twenty first century, protecting the skies of planet Earth." When they looked out again, Martha could see the other planes flying around and the large strip of runway for the planes.

**[][][]**

Winter's phone beeped again notifying her that they were on the move once again. They were going to the Engine Room centre, which was closer to her. She smiled again and changed her course.

**[][][]**

They had been running to find Martha's family when the Doctor suddenly stopped. "We've no time for sightseeing." Jack told him.

"No, wait. Shush, shush, shush, shush. Can't you hear it?" They both quietened down trying to hear what the Doctor was hearing but they couldn't.

"Doctor, my family's on board." Martha reminded him frantically, but it seemed like he wasn't paying attention.

"Brilliant. This way." They ran down past a gangway to level 4, then opened a door at the end. "Oh, at last!" The Doctor exclaimed in happiness as he saw the TARDIS.

"Oh, yes!" Martha said as well, just as happy to see the TARDIS standing there.

"What's it doing on the Valiant?" Jack asked frowning slightly.

"Well where else would he keep it?" They all whirled around and were shocked to see a brown haired woman with dark eyes, smiling a sad smile as she saw the TARDIS. She held up a hand and they say a tray of coffee cups. "Coffee?"

It took him a moment to recognise her but in after a few seconds, the Doctor noticed the unique tattoo's on the woman's right wrist and it finally clicked. "Winter?"

**[][][]**

"What the hell's he done?" Jack asked. They stood the TARDIS after Winter had insisted that it was safer for them to stay outside. It wasn't just her, everyone could tell that there was something wrong with the TARDIS.

"Don't touch it." The Doctor told them, but he was watching Winter particularly. He still didn't know if he could trust her, and she seemed to be eyeing the TARDIS a lot.

"I'm not going to."

"What's he done though?" Martha asked. "Sounds like it's sick."

"That's because she is sick." Winter said sadly. The Doctor frowned at her but she ignored it. "The Master must have done something to the TARDIS after I got out."

The Doctor's eyes widened as he realised what must have happened. "It can't be. No, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be."

"Doctor, what is it?" Martha asked him, worried that he was worried. She gave the cup of coffee that she had taken when Winter had offered it to her back to the woman. She didn't want to admit it but she was hungry and cold, and if anything, the Coffee was warming her hands, but now the Doctor was worried, and there wasn't time to be drinking anything.

"He's cannibalized the TARDIS." Winter's eyes narrowed in anger. That was why the TARDIS couldn't communicate with her anymore. She must have been in so much pain; she was going against her basic, programmed function.

"He didn't," she whispered so quietly that not even the Doctor - with his Timelord hearing could have heard her. "He couldn't have."

"It's a paradox machine!" Jack's eyes widened with realisation and Winter's only narrowed again. Martha was the only one that didn't understand what was going on, what a paradox machine was.

Once again, Winter's phone beeped. It was a message from Mrs Saxon asking where she was. Everyone looked at her and she looked up from her phone. "I'm needed." She told them. "Don't get caught down here."

She didn't even turn around when they called for her, she didn't stop when she heard the Doctor's angry voice calling her. If she did, she wouldn't be able to carry on and then her plan would go to waste. She needed to finish this.

**[][][]**

Winter got there just in time to see the President begin his speech. "My fellow Americans, patriots, people of the world. I stand before you today as ambassador for humanity, a role I will undertake with the utmost solemnity. Perhaps our Toclafane cousins can offer us much, but what is important is not that we gain material benefits, but that we learn to see ourselves anew."

She turned and saw that the Doctor, Jack and Martha had walked into the room quietly. She turned to see the Master smiling and frowned. He was too happy, and she didn't like it that she didn't know why.

"For as long as man has looked at the stars, he has wondered what mysteries they hold. Now we know we are not alone. No longer unique in the universe. And I ask you now, I ask of the human race, to join with me in welcoming our friends. I give you the Toclafane." Four sliver spheres entered the room and flew around a little.

Winter froze a little, there was something wrong with them, she had seen something when the TARDIS had shown her what was going to happen but she couldn't recall what had been so important about them.

All she knew, was that they were wrong. "My name is Arthur Coleman Winters, President Elect of the United States of America, and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon."

One of the spheres began talking. "You're not the Master." Winter froze again. This wasn't good, this wasn't good at all.

"We like the Mister Master." Another said, this time with a young girl's voice.

"We don't like you." Another said.

Winters was stuttering slightly, not quite knowing what to say."I can be master, if you so wish. I will accept mastery over you, if that is God's will."

"Man is stupid," the male one said. "Master is our friend."

"Where's my Master, pretty please?"

"Oh, all right then." Everyone looked up at the Master. "It's me. Ta da! Sorry, sorry, I have this effect. People just get obsessed. Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know. It's crazy."

"Saxon, what are you talking about?" Winters asked, outraged.

"I'm taking control, Uncle Sam, starting with you. Kill him." A sphere pointed its weapon at Winters and blasted him into little pieces. Chaos erupted and the army drawing their guns but the Master only laughed and applauded.

The plan was going to start soon. As soon as Martha left. Because she knew what would happen to her if she stayed. The Master would kill her family one by one, and they wouldn't come back.

Jack would get tortured if he stayed as well and she couldn't let that happen to him. Ari would never forgive her if that happened.

"Now then, peoples of the Earth. Please attend carefully." Winter watched as the Doctor took off his key and ran forward. Two men in black grabbed him before he could get to the Master. "We meet at last, Doctor. Oh, ho. I love saying that."

Winter carefully removed the locator from the inside of her phone and flipped a switch. It was now a teleporter. She extracted Martha's DNA from the cup she had held and programmed it into it.

Turning up the level on her perception filter, she walked over to Jack and handed him something. He looked at her and she pleaded with him silently, begging him to take it. He didn't know why, but there was something about her that he trusted, and whatever Winter had given him, he knew that it wouldn't hurt him.

"Stop it! Stop it now!" The Doctor demanded.

"As if a perception filter's going to work on me." Jack's eyes locked onto the necklace that was showing through her top and she nodded silently, and then stood still. "And look, it's the girlie and the freak. Although, I'm not sure which one's which. Tell me, did you ever find out what happened to your little team?" Jack ran forward, ready to strangle the man when the Master zapped him with his screwdriver.

"Laser screwdriver. Who'd have sonic? And the good thing is, he's not dead for long. I get to kill him again!" He laughed.

"Master, just calm down. Just look at what you're doing. Just stop. If you could see yourself-"

He turned to the camera, still recording live. "Oh, do excuse me. Little bit of personal business. Back in a minute." He turned to the guards. "Let him go."

"It's that sound." The Doctor tried. "The sound in your head. What if I could help?"

"Oh, how to shut him up? I know. Memory Lane. Professor Lazarus. Remember him and his genetic manipulation device? What, did you think that little Tish got that job merely by coincidence?

"I've been laying traps for you all this time. And if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver? But, ooh, if I only had the Doctor's biological code. Oh, wait a minute, I do." He turned and opened a large metal briefcase and showed them a hand.

"I've got his hand. And if Lazarus made himself younger, what if I reverse it? Another hundred years?" The Master aimed his Screwdriver at the Doctor, who went into rapid convulsions." Winter bit her lip to stop the gasp escaping.

Slowly, Winter began lowering the level on the perception filter again. She needed the Master to see her, then he would stop hurting the Doctor and hopefully focus on herself. She only needed Martha and Jack to get away first.

Looking over, Winter saw that Jack had been revived and Martha ran to the Doctor. "Doctor? I've got you." She told him.

"Ah, she's a would be doctor. But tonight, Martha Jones, we've flown them in all the way from prison." Clive, Tish and Francine were brought in, their wrists fastened together with cable ties, and a guard was pushing and shoving them.

"Mum!"

"I'm sorry." Martha's mother mouthed to her.

"The Toclafane. What are they? Who are they?" The Doctor asked, his voice weak from physical age.

"Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break." _Come on Martha, __**leave**__. _Winter thought.

"Is it time? Is it ready?" One of the male spheres asked, with what Winter realised, was eagerness.

"Is the machine singing?" The female one asked. She - if that was what she was - sounded like a child waiting for her lollipop and Winter held back a disgusted shiver.

The Master looked at a watch. "Two minutes past. So, Earthings. Basically, er, end of the world. Here come the drums!" A song that Martha would never again want to hear began.

_**"Here come the drums. Here come the drums. Baby, baby, baby. You are my voodoo child, my voodoo child. Don't say maybe, maybe."**_

From a window, Lucy could see a tear shape open up in the sky and millions of the spheres came flying out_**. "It's supernatural. I'm coming undone. Baby, baby, baby. You are my voodoo child, my voodoo child. Don't say maybe, maybe. It's supernatural. I'm coming undone. Baby, baby, baby. You are my voodoo child, my voodoo child.**__**"**_

"How many do you think?" The Master asked happily, brining Lucy into his arms.

"I, I don't know."

"Six billion. Down you go, kids!" The spheres headed down to the population centres and Winter could only assume, they began to kill everyone.

"Shall we decimate them? That sounds good. A nice word, decimate. Remove one tenth of the population!" Winter noticed the Doctor whisper to Martha and she moved away from him, holding Jack's bracelet.

All around, where reports coming into the Valliant about people getting killed, towns getting destroyed but the Master only laughed. While this was happening, Martha managed to teleport away and Winter smiled.

She turned to Jack and pressed a button on her phone. Moments later, he was gone. She had managed to get him to where Martha was. The rest was up to them. Now, she had to distract the Master.

The Master and Lucy held up the now ancient Doctor so he could watch the slaughter.

"And so it came to pass that the human race fell, and the Earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all, and I thought it good."

Winter took a deep breath and took off the perception filter. The Master, noticing her, turned to look at her and she smiled grimly. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

The Doctor watched her carefully. He was the only one to notice her eyes turning from the green it had been to a sturdy grey.

**[][][]**

Somewhere, Martha and Jack watched their home burning, and heard the cries from others. Clutching their keys, they both made a promise to the Doctor.

They promised him they would come back.

* * *

**So what do you think will happen to Winter? She got rid of Jack so is it possible that the Master will take it out on her? What do you think about her eyes? Can anyone guess? **

**R&R pleassssse**


	13. Chapter 10

Sorry** for how long it took but i did say i had exams to complete. I've finished them - well most of them so i have no more school which means i have nothing but time for you lot. **

**Okay, BIG thank you to:**

grapejuice101,** Brownbug ( thanks for the spelling thing. I fixed it**) , monica, **KatieTheBaka (Thank you for wanting more. SOrry it took so long.), **skidney,** CrazyLife247 and **Lexi (I'll fix the mistakes asaic)

**Thank you also to all those who Favorited/ read. I love you guys. **

**BTW, there is a lot of changes in this one so make sure you read the whole think okay? **

* * *

One Moment in Time

The Doctor watched as the planet he loved became a world of destruction and death. This was not what he wanted; this was never what he wanted. The burning, and the screams of pain - they all took him back to The Moment. That one fatal moment when he had to decide whether or not his planet lived or died. But this time, he didn't have the choice.

The Master was going to destroy everything, and he had to stand there and watch it happen, because until the year was over, there was nothing he could do as he sat and listened to the Master - his voice full of glee. "It's ready to rise, Doctor." The Master told him, his grin gleaming in the glass.

"The new Timelord Empire. It's good, isn't it? Isn't it good? Anything? No? Anything? Oh, but they broke your hearts, didn't they, those Toclafane, ever since you worked out what they really are." And they really had. It had crushed his hearts as he came to understand what had happened. "They say Martha Jones has come back home, accompanied by Handsome Jack. Now why would they do that?"

"Leave them alone." He could stand the taunting, the boasting - and as much as he had to, he watched as the Earth burned. But what he couldn't take was the Master's threats towards Martha, or Jack.

He didn't want them hurt, and he especially didn't want Martha to be a part of this - he should never have told her what he had - but there was no other choice. Either Martha travelled, or the world became another one of the Master's toys. At least she had Jack with her. The Doctor knew that Jack would do anything to make sure Martha was safe.

"But you said something to her, didn't you?" The Master asked. "On the day I took control. What did you tell her?"

"I have one thing to say to you. You know what it is."

"Oh no, you don't!" The Doctor had barely finished his sentence before the Master cut him off. He pushed the Doctor's wheel chair away from the window and faced it towards the wall.

_"Valiant now entering Zone One__airspace. Citizens rejoice." _A voice sounded over the intercom.

"Come on, people! What are we doing?" He clapped his hands together. "Launch Day in twenty four hours." Making sure he didn't get caught, the Doctor held three fingers against his thigh as Francine walked by. She repeated the signal to Clive, who was mopping the deck in a corridor and he passed the signal on to Tish. With a slight nod, she walked down to the belly of the ship where they were holding the prisoner.

She was covered in dirt, her once white hair was still brown and stringy. She looked up as Tish walked into the room and she felt a shiver through her body. Tish had never seen Winter smile, not once - though she didn't think that there would be a reason to smile.

For some reason unknown to anyone, the Master had taken a…interest in the woman. She had been the one to send Jack down to Earth with Martha, and Tish was thankful to her for that. Her sister would be more safer with someone else than if she were by herself. But still, even as she fed her, she felt the coldness radiating off the woman.

_"It won't work,"_ Tish jumped, but held back a squeak of terror. The woman's lips hadn't moved an inch - in fact, they were still eating the food that Tish had been feeding her. She looked around to make sure that none of the guards had seen her but they were all minding their own business.

"Wh - what did you say?" She whispered.

_"It won't work. The Master is not some stupid human. He will have some sort of failsafe for his screwdriver." _The voice in her head was calm, and clear but her eyes were still cold.

"We have to try." The woman said nothing after that, but it still left Tish wondering if she was right. The Master was dangerous, and if their plan went wrong, then they would probably end up killed. She just had to pray to God that it would work because it had to.

Tish soon left, it would be suspicious if she were to stay around the prisoner without a reason, but when she left, Winter would be on her own. She had tried so hard to stop it, anything and everything. She had tried to sabotage the ship, but she had been stopped. She tried to hack into the database and lock the missiles, but she couldn't. She had tried to send the Toclafane back to where they came from but she had been caught. And once she had been caught, the Master had began the torture.

At first, it was mental. He had forced his mind into hers, trying to find out how the stupid ape had managed to almost get into something he had designed, but she had shut her mind up in a box and locked the key in a memory that was guarded by stone.

It seemed that when the Angel had taken her over for that short time aboard the Byzantium, it had made a impenetrable place in her mind. Winter hadn't cared though; she had actually wanted to thank the Angel, because soon after the mental torture had stopped working, the Master had used physical torture.

She had burns, cuts, and bruises all over her body but because of that place her mind was in, she couldn't feel it. All she knew was that the Master had hurt her, and that she would never let any one of the Doctor's she had, or would meet, find out what had happened to her. Because if he did…well Winter shuddered to think.

Suddenly, there was a loud blaring noise that jolted Winter out of her thoughts. They had tried. She sighed as she watched it play over in her head and she knew what had happened. They had failed. And the Master was punishing the Doctor for it. And now the Master was sending a message. She could see it on the screen.

"What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate? All nine hundred years of your life, Doctor. What if we could see them?" The Master pointed his screwdriver at the Doctor and he began thrashing around, faster than possible and groaning in pain. "Older and older and older. Down you go, Doctor. Down, down, down the years." It seemed like years before it finished but finally the thrashing ended and the Doctor was revealed.

For the first time in a year, Winter Swann felt tears slip down her cheeks.

**[][][]**

"I'm sorry you're so sad." He was proud of Amy, that much he was sure of. She had battled whatever had been thrown her way, and it had always been with a cheeky smile or a joke - but the Doctor couldn't help but feel guilty.

"But I'm not. Sometimes these moods torture me for weeks, for months. But I'm good now. If Amy Pond can soldier on, then so can Vincent Van Gogh."

"I'm not soldiering on. I'm fine." And that right there was why he felt so guilty. She had lost someone she loved, Amy had lost Rory and she couldn't even grieve properly for him because she couldn't _remember_! It had been his fault, it truly had. If he had just _moved faster,_ pulled Rory out the way he could have saved him. But he hadn't been able to save him, just like he couldn't save Winter.

_That's a lie!_ A part of his mind told him. _You could save her, you just don't want to!_ No, that wasn't true; of course he wanted to save Winter! He loved her, and it hurt him too much to explain at what he knew was happening to her - what the Master was doing to her, and every fibre of his being hated himself for leaving her.

But he had to. Winter needed to be there, because if she wasn't…who knew what would happen.

_But,_ the Doctor vowed to himself, _once I have her back, nothing will keep her away from me again._ Until then, he would have to carry on. Because who else was going to do it? "Okay. Okay. So, now, we must have a plan." And plan he would.

**[][][]**

The Master had pulled Winter out onto the main deck. She had put the barriers back up - it would be counterproductive for her to suddenly feel the need to show emotion in front of the Master. It would mean she was now capable of being able to feel pain. Still, she wondered what it was he was doing.

Neither Clive, Tish nor Francine were on the flight deck - _probably in the cells _- and Winter was being made to stand. Her hands tied behind her back and shackles on her bare feet in case she tried to run. _But run where? There's no where left to turn. _

There was no one else on the deck apart from the Doctor and herself. He was in a bird cage, hanging two feet above the air and she was doing her best not to look at him. She could feel him staring at her, but she just couldn't bring herself to look at him. It hurt too much to see the Doctor so weak, so…unable to fight. Because though she knew he had a plan, she also knew that while he waited, he suffered. And the Bond made her all the more aware of it - her Doctor or not.

Finally, she heard the door slide open and Lucy's telltale heels. "Tomorrow, they launch. We're opening up a rift in the Braccatolian space. They won't see us coming. It kind of scary."

"Then stop." But they all knew he wouldn't.

"Once the Empire is established, and there's a new Gallifrey in the heavens, maybe then it stops. The drumming. The never ending drumbeat. Ever since I was a child. I looked into the vortex. That's when it chose me. The drumming, the call to war. Can't you hear it? Listen, it's there now. Right now. Tell me you can hear it, Doctor. Tell me." He was almost pleading. Winter could hear it in his voice. Almost, but not quite.

"It's only you." The Doctor whispered and whatever speck of humanity Winter had seen was gone in an instant.

"Good." A sphere entered and everyone but Winter turned to look at it. The year she had down in the basement had left her a lot of time to figure everything out and when she had, she had created a bigger barrier or stone to block the emotions.

"Tomorrow, the war. Tomorrow we rise, never to fall." It's child-like voice said gleefully.

"You see? I'm doing it for them. You should be grateful. After all, you love them so very, very much." But then his gaze turned to Winter. She felt it before she saw it, and instantly, she took on an emotionless look in her eyes. She had perfected it after all. "Don't you?"

The Doctor already knew what would happen. He had seen the bruises and burns, he had felt the her scattered mind, but all the time he prayed to whatever would listen that the Master stopped harming Winter.

The Master looked at her and suddenly she dropped to the floor, convulsing and curling into herself. Just because she couldn't feel the pain didn't mean her body hadn't reacted to it, and Winter hated herself for giving the Master a physical reaction.

Behind the wall, she could see what was happening. It was like someone was taking a burning poker and shoving it through her mind, frying all her nerves - at least, that was the sensation she could see. She could feel nothing however behind her wall.

"Stop it." She faintly heard, and it did stop. Winter let the barriers up slightly and felt the lasting pain. In self preservation she slammed the barrier back down lest she show anything.

"Oh but you don't love this one do you Doctor?" The Master's gleeful laugh echoed through the room. He had felt it, he had taken the girl by surprise and _at last_ she had felt pain. Oh how sweet it tasted, the ability to torture. Still though, whatever shield she had was strong.

Much too strong for a pathetic human."What is she?"

"I don't know."

"Liar!" He shouted, moving over to Winter and jerking her up by her hair. "What are you?"

She could feel nothing, and that helped her. Looking into his eyes, Winter smiled a sly chilling smile. "The Master in the Valiant doesn't know. Doesn't know, doesn't know." She teased. It was the wrong thing to do. But at the back of her mind, Winter now understood why her Doctor had momentarily frozen when the Atraxi had said that.

The Master threw her against the wall with enough strength that everyone in the room heard the distinctive crack. Nobody helped her, nobody could but she didn't care. Winter began laughing. She turned over to her side to look at him. "Oh is the poor Timelord throwing a tantrum? Couldn't get his way? Poor baby."

Fury blazed in the Master's eyes as he turned to look at her. "What did you say?" The fact that he wasn't shouting was probably scarier than him shouting but Winter had switched off her emotions. She no longer cared what danger she was in.

"Don't Winter." The Doctor urged. She ignored him.

"Your nothing but a child throwing a tantrum because nobody is paying him any attention." She laughed again as the Master picked her up. "You're not a Timelord Saxon. You're a brat." The Master barely noticed the grey surrounding her eyes as he lifted his screwdriver.

"You insolent ape!" The Doctor watched the Master as he began to press the button on his Screwdriver. He was afraid for Winter – the Master wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

"Uh uh uh." She tutted. "Kill me and your paradox machine goes kaput." The Master didn't lower his screwdriver but he did let her drop. She let out a hiss of pain as she figured out what was broken – her right leg.

"What are you talking about?" He spat.

"You don't really think I wasted that time as Lucy's PA did you?" She asked. "Oh no. Throughout the whole eighteen months I was tuning myself into the TARDIS. I welded my DNA into her heart ensuring that I became connected to her." From the corner of her eye, Winter saw the Doctor's eyes widen. To do something like that was too advanced for anyone except Timelords to accomplish – and in addition, to connect oneself to a TARDIS like that meant that you felt everything the sentient ship felt.

And she truly did feel every slash of pain the TARDIS felt. Not even the barrier she had could keep that pain away.

"That's not possible!" Winter turned back to the Master and grinned a manic smile.

"Would you call my bluff Saxon?" It was infuriating the Master to be called by his human alias and she knew that but she didn't care. "Go one. I _dare you._" The Master did nothing. She was unusual enough to make him wonder if she had actually had done just what she said she had.

"Take her away." He wasn't going to try it. It was too risky and if the stupid bitch was telling the truth then all his plans would end with her death and that wasn't what he wanted at all.

**[][][]**

Finally. Finally the Master had some good news. _"Martha Jones and Jack Harkness located. Coordinates 325/098." _With a manic grin, the Master sprung down the stairs towards the Doctor. "Guess what."

**[][][]**

"Martha. Martha Jones. I can see you! Out you come, little girl. Come and meet your master." He waited. Nothing happened. "Anybody? Nobody? No? Nothing? Positions. I'll give the order unless you surrender. Ask yourself. What would the Doctor do?"

"Come on Martha." Both Jack and Martha took of their keys – the same ones that had allowed them to travel undetected for the year – and walked out the door.

"Oh, yes. Oh, very well done. Good girl. He trained you well. Bag." He ordered. "Give me the bag." When Jack moved towards the Master he held a hand out to stop him. "No, stay there. Just throw it." Jack threw the bag towards the Master and it hit the ground. Within the blink of an eye, the Master had whipped out his Laser Screwdriver and destroyed t."

"And now, good companion, your work is done." The Master pointed his laser at Martha but before he could do anything, Tom ran out of the house.

" No!" He cried. The Master killed Tom without a moment's hesitation. This human he could kill, this ape would bring no consequences and it felt good.

"But you, when you die, the Doctor should be witness, hmm? Almost dawn, Martha, and planet Earth marches to war."

**[][][]**

"Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe." The guards had brought Clive, Francine, Tish and Winter in to the main room under clear orders to not allow Winter anywhere near the Doctor. "Your teleport device, in case you thought I'd forgotten. He glared at Winter with hatred but she only smiled at him as Martha threw Jack's vortex manipulator to the Master he weapon.

"And now, kneel." They did as they were ordered. "Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe. Are we ready?"

"The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice!"

"Three minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down. I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?"

"_We will fly and blaze and slice. We will fly and blaze and slice._" The spheres childlike voice came through the speakers and the Master clapped his hands together in happiness.

"At zero, to mark this day, the child and the freak, will die. My first blood. Any last words? No? Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the time vortex. These ones are useless." He spat. "Bow your head. And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward – "

Winter watched as both Martha and Jack started laughing, efficiently cutting the Master off.

"What. What's so funny?" he asked, finally not being able to take it anymore.

" A gun." Jack stated. His chuckles had turned into full blown laughs.

"What about it?"

"A gun in four parts?" Martha asked. Winter watched, not understanding what was going on.

"Yes, and I destroyed it." He was angry now, everyone could see it.

"A gun in four parts scattered across the world? I mean, come on, did you really believe that?"

"What do you mean?"

Winter's head whipped towards the Doctor as she heard his soft voice through his cage. "As if I would ask her to kill."

"Oh well, it doesn't matter. I've got her exactly where I want her."

"Oh I'm hurt." Jack teased. Winter rolled her eyes. Only Jack would be teasing about the Master ignoring him. He was an odd person.

"But we knew what Professor Docherty would do. The Resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun, so she'd get us here at the right time." She said smiling.

"Oh, but you're still going to die." It was a desperate attempt to control his surroundings. It was like everything he had was on the verge of being lost – and the Master was right to worry about that.

"Don't you want to know what we were doing, travelling the world?" Martha asked. Her voice was teasing, hiding something and if there was one thing everyone aboard the Valliant had learned, it was that the Master hated things being hidden for him.

And just like that, he fell for the bait. "Tell me."

"I told a story, that's all." She said smiling. "No weapons, just me, Jack and words. We did just what the Doctor said. We went across the continents, and everywhere we went, we found the people, and I told them our story."

"We told them about the Doctor." Jack added grinning at the Doctor. "Told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about him."

"Faith and hope? Is that all?" The Master sneered.

"No, because I gave them an instruction, just as the Doctor said." Martha stood up no longer afraid of the Master. He was just a man. "I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time –"

"Nothing will happen." The Master interrupted. "Is that your weapon? Prayer?"

"Across the whole world, in word, just one thought at one moment but -" Jack held up a finger, "with fifteen satellites."

"What?" Winter laughed as she saw the realization on the Master's face. He wasn't going to walk out of this alive.

"The ArchAngel Network."

"A telepathic field binding the whole human race together, with all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word is Doctor." And, like Martha had timed it perfectly, at those words the Doctor began to glow a golden hue in his cage.

"Stop it. No, no, no, no, you don't." But it was no use. All around him, the Master could see people standing and whispering the words that would lead to his downfall.

_Doctor…_ the name whispered through the air. It was almost like the Master could see the telepathic strands that were making their way to the Doctor and it was disgusting. But then he noticed the same strands floating about Winter. They travelled towards her, growing stronger and more vibrant before whispering towards the Doctor and the Master's rage grew. Whatever that maggot had done had strengthened the link - and what was worse was she knew it.

" I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices." He was fully back to his old self, converses and all.

"I order you to stop!" The Master screamed as the crowds' shouts of the Doctor's name intensified.

"The one thing you can't do. Stop them thinking. Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this." Now that they were safe from the Master, Martha ran to Francine and Tish, hugging them as tightly as she possibly could.

"No!" In a desperate attempt to fix things, the Master fired his laser screwdriver at the Doctor, but the energy field around him only made the beam bounce off.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He whispered.

"Then I'll kill them." It was a promise they both knew the Master would fufill and the Doctor couldn't let him do that. With a flick of his hand, the Screwdriver flew from the Master's hands and unknowingly, straight into Winter's.

She picked it up and used it to dematerialise the chains that were still on her hand; she was still too weak mentally from the torture both she and the TARDIS had to go through. She watched as the Master refused to accept his fate, and she watched as the Doctor did what he always strived to do: forgive.

In one last attempt to escape, the Master took out the manipulator he had taken from Jack and activated it. "Doctor!"

There was nothing she could do for the Doctor right now, Winter just had to trust that he would find a way to get back. The rest of them still had a problem. "The Master called for all the spheres. They're all heading right towards us!" Just as she said that, some of the spheres that the Master always had on deck attacked.

Winter aimed the Screwdriver at them and fired three quick progressive shots. The Spheres dropped to the floor dead. Winter smiled - it had been so easy to take them down. With a flick of a button they were dead and they weren't going to harm anyone again.

Suddenly, the spheres that were outside the Valiant disappeared and the ship began to shake. Holding on for dear life, Winter and the other's waited until it stopped.

"Everyone get down! Time is reversing!" _Where did he come from? _Winter wondered but she did as she was told. The winds of time were creating havoc and panic on the ground, until finally the people, the rockets and the statues disappear.

"The paradox is broken. We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning."

As proof, a man began talking over the radio. _"This is UNIT Central. What's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated."_

"Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was."

"What about the spheres?" Martha asked.

"Trapped at the end of the universe."

"But I can remember it." Francine said. She was scared. If she remembered, that meant that the rest of her family would as well. As if the nightmares weren't bad enough.

"We're at the eye of the storm. The only ones who'll ever know. Oh, hello. You must be Mister Jones. We haven't actually met." Jack raised a brow at the Doctor's ability to completely get off topic.

Using the Doctor's distraction to his advantage, the Master ran for the door, straight into Jack. "Whoa, big fella! You don't want to miss the party. Cuffs. So, what do we do with this one?"

"We kill him." Clive spat.

"We execute him." Tish snarled.

"No," the Doctor opposed. "That's not the solution." He tried to get them to see but failed to notice Francine picking up the gun that had dropped beside her and aiming it at the Master - hatred in her eyes.

"Oh, I think so. Because all those things, they still happened because of him. I saw them."

"Go on." The Master urged Francine. "Do it."

"Francine, you're better than him. If you do this, then you'll be just like the Master." Francine's eyes widened in disgust and she threw the gun away from her, right next to Winter. The Doctor went over and hugged her, comforting her as best as he could before letting her go to Martha who embraced her mother tightly, not letting go.

"You're my responsibility from now on." The Doctor told the Master solemnly. "The only Time Lord left in existence."

"Yeah, but you can't trust him." Jack said unhappily. Jack had refrained from slamming his fist into the Master's face ever since he had seen him. He wanted to know what had happened to his team. What had happened to Ari.

"No. The only safe place for him is the TARDIS."

"You mean you're just going to keep me?" The disgust was evident on the Master's face and that in itself helped Francine a little. To know that he was going to be kept like a - like a pet - just as they had been was better than him getting no punishment at all.

"Mmm. If that's what I have to do." It was too much for Lucy. The Doctor wasn't going to do anything to this monster. The Master had used her and abused her for his amusement and where was _the Doctor_ when that had been happening?

Quietly, she walked towards the gun unnoticed by all except Winter. Lucy looked at the odd woman. She had been tortured even more that she had. Surely she wanted revenge as well. Winter's purple eyes followed Lucy's movements as she reached for the gun. _Is she going to try to stop me?_ Lucy wondered.

But Winter didn't even move. As Lucy looked at her, she noticed acceptance in her eyes. Taking that as allowance, Lucy picked up the gun and turned. Raising her hand, she aimed the gun at the Master. She shot.

Lucy watched as the Doctor caught the Master in the fall and lowered the gun. A hint of a smile was on her face and for the first time in months, she felt relief. "Put it down." The man who wouldn't die told her. Lucy happily gave the gun to him. Her revenge was completed.

"There you go. I've got you. I've got you." He told the Master.

"Always the women." The Master wheezed. Lucy's shot had grazed his heart. Already it was getting hard to breathe as he felt the heart stop. One down, one to go.

"I didn't see her." It was an unspoken apology. The Doctor had always been good at apologising - and forgiving now that the Master remembered it.

"The girl did." The Master said happily. It seemed that the Doctor knew who he was talking about because his eyes widened and flew to Winter who was just standing there, watching them quietly.

A sudden hate flew into his eyes as he regarded the girl. It was a look the Master knew well. "Dying in your arms. Happy now?" The Doctor turned back to look at his old friend sadly.

"You're not dying. Don't be stupid. It's only a bullet. Just regenerate." But he wouldn't. He knew the Master wouldn't.

"No." It was said with a smile.

"One little bullet. Come on." The Doctor pleaded. He needed him, he didn't want to be alone again.

"I guess you don't know me so well. I refuse."

"No! Don't!" But it was too late. The Master had already made up his mind; he wouldn't change it for anyone. And if anyone knew this, it was the Doctor.

"How about that. I win. Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?" And those were the Master's final words. It was mere seconds later that the Master died with a smile.

**[][][]**

"Time was, every single one of these people knew your name. Now they've all forgotten you."

"Good." He was watching Winter constantly out of the corner of his eye but she wasn't moving anywhere. The pure hate for her was fuelling his constant anger, doubling the intensity of his anger for her. And she was making it worse by just sitting there.

"Back to work."

He was drawn out of his anger for a moment to look at Jack. "I really don't mind, though. Come with me."

Jack shook his head slightly. "I had plenty of time to think that past year, the year that never was, and I kept thinking about Ari. Life's short - well for most. I think I'm gonna ask her to marry me."

"Looking after family. Can't argue with that. But I can argue with this. " The Doctor took Jack's hand and exposed the vortex manipulator on his wrist.

"Hey, I need that." Jack exclaimed but smiled at the Doctor all the same.

"I can't have you walking around with a time travelling teleport. You could go anywhere, twice. The second time to apologise."

"You know Ari will just fix it if I ask her." Jack said smiling cheekily at the Doctor.

"I've keyed in a message to her from me. I'm sure she'll see it my way."

"But I have ways I can get her to change her mind." The innuendo was high in the air and the Doctor rolled his eyes at Jack.

"You are impossible Jack Harkness." He told him seriously.

"Been called that before. Sir. But I keep wondering. What about aging? Because Ari and I can't die but I keep getting older. The odd little grey hair, you know? What happens if I live for a million years?" They could hear the worry in his voice but the Doctor couldn't answer the question.

"I really don't know." He told Jack apologetically.

"Okay, vanity. Sorry. Yeah, can't help it. Used to be a poster boy when I was a kid living on the Boeshane Peninsula. Tiny little place. I was the first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me. The Face of Boe, they called me. Hmm. I'll see you." Saying goodbye, Jack walked off to the entrance of the Hub, smiling softly.

"No."

"It can't be." She said not believing that the Face of Boe - that wise, kind face was…Jack.

"No. Definitely not. No. No." The Doctor said - agreeing wholeheartedly with what Martha was thinking.

"Right then," the Doctor said snapping into action. He still hadn't forgotten Winter but he would deal with her later. "Off we go. The open road. There is a burst of starfire right now over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio. Oh, the sky is like oil on water. Fancy a look? Or back in time. We could, I don't know, Charles the Second? Henry the Eighth. I know. What about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie. I bet she's brilliant. Okay."

"I just can't." Martha told him sadly.

"Yeah." He had know it would happen - Martha had to put her family first - like Jack. He understood.

"Spent all these years training to be a doctor. Now I've got people to look after. They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't leave them."

"Of course not." He agreed. "Thank you. Martha Jones, you saved the world."

"Yes, I did. I spent a lot of time with you thinking I was second best, but you know what? I am good." The Doctor smiled proudly at Martha, thinking of how far she had come from when he had first met her.

"You going to be all right?" She asked - momentarily her eyes wondered towards Winter. She had seen how angry the Doctor had been when she had let Lucy shoot her, and honestly, she was quite scared for the girl.

"Always. Yeah."

"Right then. Bye." She walked outside the door but then paused. She couldn't leave him like that.

She turned around and walked back into the TARDIS. "But the thing is, my friend, Suzy, she did something terrible and her partner wouldn't forgive her…" Martha trailed off looking towards Winter.

"Is this going anywhere?" The Doctor asked, slightly frustrated.

"Well yes." She answered. "Because Suzy did some remarkale things, and she went through pure torture because of her bravery but he couldn't see it. He was just so angry at her for doing something that - honestly, would have probably been better for them. And I told her that it wasn't her fault and he shouldn't blame her for what she did."

From where she was standing, Winter smiled slightly and the woman. She had come a long way from the petty jealousy she had towards Winter and silently, she thanked her for what she had to say.

Martha nodded at her, accepting the thanks before chucking her phone at the Doctor. "Keep that, because I'm not having you disappear. If that rings, when that rings, you'd better come running. Got it?"

"Got it." And he was telling her that he did. He wasn't going to be as harsh on Winter but he still couldn't forgive her for what she had done.

"I'll see you again, mister." Martha left the TARDIS and the Doctor smiled gently at where she had left. Taking a deep breath, he set the TARDIS into standby mode and left it there. Leaning on the console, he turned to face Winter who hadn't moved at all.

"Why didn't you stop her?" He asked. He watched Winter. There were no signs of remorse on her face as she stared back at him. Honestly, she looked broken.

He waited for her answer but it didn't come so he asked again. "Why didn't you stop Lucy?" The quiet anger brewed under the surface and Winter watched as it rose to his already cloudy eyes.

"Because you didn't see what the Master did to her." Her voice was calm but small at the same time. It wasn't from fear though - it was from her drowsiness.

"So you let her _kill him_?" Anger was evident on his face.

Winter snapped. "Don't you dare judge me!" She cried out, slamming a hand on the console. "How can you stand there being angry at _me _for doing almost the _exact_ same thing as YOU!"

"What?" She couldn't know. There was no way she could know what he did.

"Oh yes I know what you did to Gallifrey. You stood there and watched as your people DIED! You were even the one that pulled the trigger so don't you DARE tell me what I did was wrong! And what's worse, is you enjoyed it!" The Doctor stood there and stared at her.

"How did you know?" He asked angrily. _How does she know?_

"It doesn't matter."

"HOW DO YOU KNOW?" He roared marching over her and grabbing her by the arm. Pure fury crashed over Winter and she raised her arm. Without any indication, the Doctor was flung back off his feet and against the wall hard.

He tried to move but found he couldn't. Whatever Winter was doing, she didn't want him up. "Don't. Touch. Me!" She spat furiously.

With that, she ran out of the TARDIS, tears streaming down her face.

Something changed in her from that moment. A dam broke, and all her pain, anger and fury circulated her body. Winter looked up from her shaking hands and smiled a grim smile.

No one was ever going to hurt her again.

And with that, her stone grey eyes looked around the Earth. _Never again._

**[][][]**

The Doctor had been sitting under the TARDIS console for hours. Amy had gone to take a shower after their journey. She had been shaken and upset when she had found out that Vincent had still died and he could understand why. Amy was a good person. Though she had her faults, she always tried to help when possible.

In a way, she was almost like the Doctor. That was why when she saw him just sitting there, she went over to him to try and help him.

"What's wrong Doctor?" He looked up to her and smiled a sad smile before looking down and tracing the patterns over his right wrist. Amy had seen him doing that many times while she had been with him and almost every time she had seen him trace the patterns, she would try and see what they were.

"Nothing Amy." But it was a lie.

"Does this have to do with Winter?" The reaction to the name was instant. His shoulders tensed and the frown on his face deepened. She could almost see the self hatred on his face.

"I hurt her Amy. I hurt her so badly and I can't do anything about it." There were tears in his eyes as he said this and Amy's heart broke for the Timelord. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around his and pulled him close. At first he stiffened, but eventually he crumpled against her, crying.

As she comforted the broken man she wondered what she could do. It had taken her some time, but she had eventually figured out that whoever Winter was, she meant a lot to the Doctor and it hurt her to see him like this.

The TARDIS seemed to respond to the Doctor, if not to anyone else so Amy tried. _Please, just this once. If you can hear me…help him. He needs her. _

The TARDIS listened to Amy's pleads and the Doctor's tears and hummed in acknowledgement. It was high time her Swann came home.

* * *

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	14. Chapter 11 part 1

**Okay, here it is. I promised it by the weekend but my laptop broke - had to get it fixed but hey, this is how much i love you guys. **

**BIG THANK YOU TO:**

** Sherlockian082994,  
**grapejuice101 (what were you crying over? I'm sorry you were, but also glad if you know what you mean.)  
**skidney (You're new arent you? Glad you like the story so far.)**

10thDoctorFanGirl (Also new. So glad you like the chapter and i love you're name, but i hope you dont mind how i'm portraying Ten in this story.)

**moonsword17 (I'm glad you like my story. Hope this update was quick enough for you.)**

Miss.V Potter (Thank you. Glad you like it and so happy you like it. NEW PERSON)

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The Yoshinator (love your name ;) also i dont plan on not stopping. I did for a while but then becasue of all you lots feedback, i was inspired again and have so much i want to do with this story.

**ElysiumPhoenix**

SurvivorHawke X3 ( So happy you liked this story enough to update THREE TIMES. Love you for that. Also I'm glad you like the story so much and am happy you like to see the season without Amy. To tell you the truth, i've come to favour Winter over Amy - but then, I'm bias.)

**Lexi (I want to thank you for all your reviews, they mean soooo much to me and it just gives me a warm feeling on the inside :) :) :) )**

* * *

Don't Hate the Crime [ Part 1]

* * *

The TARDIS couldn't stand it. Her Thief was so sad all the time - he wasn't in the adventures any more. Sure he would smile and laugh with Amy but he wasn't the same, she could tell. It honestly hurt her to see her Thief without his Swan and she vowed to get her back.

But the TARDIS could see all of time; past present and future were laid out for her to view and to travel so she knew what her Swan was going through - and she also knew what needed to happen before she could come back to them. So as the last remaining TARDIS in the universe, the task fell to her.

Winter needed to become human again.

**[][][]**

"Come on Amber. It won't be that bad." Anna Daniels was the only one that could get Winter to change her mind. She had met her in Wales while she had been researching her…powers a few years ago and ever since then, they had become great friends but because Anna had met her in the Pre-Doctor part of her life, she had known her as Amber and honestly, it was a nice change.

"The last time I got a job, it was for Harold Saxon, and we all know how that turned out." No they didn't. There were only a hand full of people who had actually known about The Year That Never Was - and she couldn't have cared less about some of them.

"That was a freak chance. Come on Winter - it won't happen again." Winter looked at her pleading eyes and the alien part of her began getting increasingly annoyed with her. Her eyes widened with shock and Winter brought out a small epi-pen looking object. With a jab, she injected herself with the clear looking liquid and bit her lip to stop the momentary prick of pain.

Anna's eyes widened and she bit her lip. "You forgot to take your medicine again right?" Winter nodded. "Oh Amber, you really shouldn't do that."

"I know - I just forgot."

"Come on, let's get some tea." Winter followed her friend through the streets. She couldn't believe she had been so careless and forgotten. She needed the dose otherwise something happened to her.

She remembered what had happened last time.

**()()()()()()**

Winter smiled menacingly at Jack. "You think you can stop me? Hah, pathetic human." She could feel her lips moving and hear her voice but it wasn't Winter talking. Something had been let loose ever since The Year That Never Was.

"Come on Winter. We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Jack said.

It laughed cruelly, raising a hand and sweeping it to the side. As it did so, Jack mirrored it's movement. He smashed against the wall with a sickening crack and a grunt of pain.

"Jack!" Ari cried. She turned on the thing in anger and fired three shots of her gun but then shots only bounced off the creature. Ari stood there in shock. That was the most powerful weapon they had at their disposal and it hadn't even scratched the damn thing!

"You think you can beat me? No. I'm more than you will ever be." It said happily. With another hand it swept Ari off her feet right next to Jack.

"So what are you then? Cause I'm pretty sure that you'll be dead within the hour." Jack said. Already the broken bone had healed and he was back on his feet.

"You can't kill me without killing you precious Winter. Trust me - I'm the Angel." Something about what the Angel had just said made her host boil with fury inside of her but the Angel just laughed it off. She wasn't going anywhere and there was nothing Winter could do about it.

"Well Angel. You're time is up." The Angel spun round just in time to see a large bat connect to her forehead. With a grunt, she fell to the ground, momentarily knocked out.

"Nice work Owen." Ari said but she wasn't smiling as she usually was. Whatever that was, it had Winter. Something was wrong with her and Ari didn't know how to help her.

"Yeh well the bitch kicked me in the balls. It was personal." He said frowning. "But what happened to Winter?" He asked. Like the rest of the team, Owen had grown attached to the woman who looked eerily like his boss' girlfriend. It was weird but he loved her like the annoying little sister she was.

"Dunno. One minuet she was fine the next…" Jack pointed to the crumpled Winter.

"What should we do with her?" Ari asked, still frowning. But before anyone could answer, they were met with a groaning Winter.

"Ohh did River punch me again?" She asked slightly disorientated. When she opened her eyes properly she noticed that everyone was holding a gun in front of her. She sighed. "Really? A gun? If I was the Angel, you would probably all be dead by now." She grumbled getting up.

"How do we know you're you?" Ari asked. Winter swivelled her head around to look at the woman and ran her fingers through her platinum blonde hair.

"Are my eyes grey?" There was a collective no throughout the group. "Then you have nothing to worry about. Oh and by the way, I'm sorry I broke you're leg Jack."

**()()()()()()**

She had already figured it out. When the Angel - as she seemed to want to be called - took over, Winter had time to look over memories.

The Doctor had told her what had happened on the Byzantium - the Weeping Angel taking over, eyes going grey, wanting to take over her body…but she had also been told that she snapped out of it when River punched her.

This lead her to wondering when the Angel came out - it had the whole year to do so before but it hadn't, at least not fully so why was that? Winter believed that it was because her pain receptors were constantly being stimulated.

This lead to the conclusion. Stimulate her pain receptors and the Angel goes away.

When she had told the team they seemed to understand and to agree with her but the problem was, how did they administer the pain in public? Winter couldn't go around asking people to punch her when the Angel wanted to take over so they devised another way.

They managed to strip a few nanogens that Jack had found somewhere in the Hub of their normal properties and insert them with a stimulus that would affect Winter's pain receptors for the given time. She would take it and the Angel would leave her alone for a while.

Eventually they managed to liquefy it and put it in a Epi-Pen. The dose would automatically refill thanks to the nanogens and Winter would use it when needed under the pretence of having diabetes.

It had worked like a charm.

"Seriously though, apply." Anna insisted after she was sure that Winter was okay. "What harm could it do?

"Fine." Winter said giving in. "I'll apply to the bloody job." Anna squealed in happiness, hugging her friend tightly, jumping up and down. At times like these, it was just easier to give in to the woman.

**[][][]**

As it turned out, Winter had managed to get the job for the company. It was new; a company that produced dieting pills for the public. They were called Adipose Industries, and Winter had managed to get a job as a receptionist.

It wasn't fun, but the pay was alright. The best part about the job was that she and Anna could go and get lunch together as Anna worked in the building right next to her. Anna was an accountant, she had always loved numbers for as long as Winter had known her and she had excelled in anything mathematical.

The phone rang and Winter smiled as she looked at the caller ID. "Hi." She said answering the phone. "I'm just leaving now. Cassie's covering for me."

"Good. I'm outside the door." Winter pressed end on the phone and nodded over to Cassie who was just coming up. Cassie smiled and Winter smiled back momentarily before picking up her jacket and walked out of the building.

It wasn't long before she came face to face with Anna's beaming smile. Whenever Winter saw the brunette she was always smiling, always happy and always had a good word to say. In short, Anna was an optimist.

"So where do you wanna go eat today?" Anna asked, pulling Winter next to her and linking her arm with hers.

"Dunno, Chinese?"

Anna's grin got wider as she led them in the right direction. "Mr Wong's it is then." And with that she led them to one of their favourite restaurants.

**[][][]**

By the time they had finished lunch, Winter needed to get back to work. With a smile and a hug, she and Anna parted ways and Winter made her way back to work. "Hey Cassie, anything happen?" She asked, taking over her place as receptionist.

"Not really. But there's a health and safety check by some Danna women. Shouldn't be too bad." Winter nodded at the uneventful incident. Once Cassie had left, Winter began work. Being a receptionist was boring, incredibly so, so what she would do is help Torchwood whenever she could.

Certain cases would be too much for the, or they didn't have enough information to help anyone – and Winter had found that over The Year That Never Was, her brain had developed far more than a human.

She could feel the information about things normal humans wouldn't even begin to think they could understand it, she could memorise information by just looking at it and what was even more incredible was that this was only a tiny portion of what she could now do.

Whatever the High Priestess had done to Winter, it was finally coming into play.

Torchwood were hunting a Joule, a slimy creature that had fallen through the Hub into the world. In it's original form it was a dark green in colour and over 6 feet tall, could let out a deadly gas that could kill it's prey from over 100 metres away. This would usually make it easy for the team to capture but unfortunately, the Joule had the annoying ability to adapt to its environment after assimilating itself into it for a while.

This usually happened with in a 68 hour time frame and with only 15 hours left, the team were finding it difficult to finds the smarmy basterd.

However, Tosh had managed to collect a DNA sample from it before it had escaped the Hub and had managed to send it to Winter. Using the same device she had to send Jack and Martha down to Earth, she used reversed it to locate the Joule. With the co-ordinates in place, she sent the information to Ari, hoping they would be able to track it down before it did any major damage.

She had just finished sending the co-ordinates when a shadow appeared in front of her. Looking up, Winter saw a medium sized woman with long, ginger hair and brown eyes. "Can I help you?" She asked.

"Where's the other one?" The lady asked. Refraining from rolling her eyes, she answered.

"Cassie? She isn't the actual receptionist, I am. So is there anything I can do to help you?"

The woman pulled out a card and flashed it at Winter. Another one of the amazing things that had happened was that Winter now had incredibly good eyesight – and because of that, she had managed to see that whatever card the woman was holding up, was not official. "Donna Noble, Health and Safety," the woman – Donna said.

Winter frowned at the fact that whatever Donna was doing, she wasn't supposed to be doing it. That and the fact that Winter was _sure_ that she had heard that name before. Treading carefully, she answered with a fake happy voice: "How may I help you?"

"I need a list of your customer. I asked over there but they said to come to you." She said pointing to the general space behind her.

Winter took a moment to look at the woman before nodding slowly. "Hmm, yeh, the printer is always breaking. If you could just hold on a moment Ms Noble." Winter brought up a list of the customers and managed to print them off pretty quickly. "The printer is just over there Ms Noble." She said pointing to the are of it. Donna nodded and headed off.

Not a moment later, Winter was typing furiously into the Torchwood database. 'Donna Noble.' A few pictures came up and Winter found the one that matched the woman she had just spoken to.

_Donna Cassandra Noble, aged 32. _

Winter read through all the information Torchwood had on her but nothing seemed to stand out. She was a normal civilian that had done nothing worth talking about. It was odd that Torchwood even had anything on her to begin with.

But then, right at the end, Winter froze.

_Has known to have associated with the Doctor. _

She bit her lip. Now she remembered where she had heard that name from. Her Doctor had told her about Donna, about how amazing and remarkable the human had been – and also how much he missed her.

Winter had been so engrossed with her thoughts that she hadn't noticed a man walk up to her desk. "Hello. John Smith, Health and Safety."

For the second time in five minutes, Winter Swann froze. She knew that voice. She hated that voice.

Winter didn't want to see him but most of all, she didn't want him to know that she was there. Already she had changed her hair colour before she had come to London; she didn't like it, at least, she didn't at the moment when she was around this regeneration. It was too unusual, too different. And this Doctor was known for taking people who were strange and different.

As quickly as she could, Winter changed her normal bright green eyes to a dull grey before looking up at the man and smiling.

He hadn't changed at all. It was like he was frozen in time. _But no, that's not right. He has changed. _And if she looked close enough, she could see it; his eyes held more pain and sorrow than the last time she had seen him. Something else had happened to him and it had hurt him. _Good._ A part of her found herself saying.

"Good afternoon Mr Smith. How may I help you?" She said with the biggest fake smile she could put on her face. Something was going on – especially if the Doctor was here to investigate.

"Could you print off the client list?" Winter nodded and pressed a few clicks and presses of her keys, she sent the Doctor off to the printer.

**[][][]**

Once she got home, Winter went straight to her laptop. With a few clicks she had hacked into the company website and looked at the information. Everything seemed legit but there was one substance that she didn't know of.

Picking up her phone she called Ari. After a few rings, her friend picked up. _"Winter? Now really isn't a good time honey." _There was a large bang in the background and a snarl could be heard from the other side of the connection.

"Why? Did you find the Joule?" She asked worriedly. Ari and Jack were her family - the only ones she properly considered as family. _Well, there's my Doctor now I suppose,_ she thought as she traces the lines of the tattoo.

"_Yeh, and it's kicking our arses. Could you call back in a little while?" _Suddenly a shout of pain could be heard and Winter winced._ "Son of a _bitch!_"_

"Okay but…be careful Ari." She said biting her lip.

_"Don't worry about me, I can't die remember?"_ She said with a laugh. She had to admit, it made Winter feel a little but better knowing that Ari and Jack couldn't actually _die_ but it still didn't mean she wanted them to have to go through it.

It wasn't long after that that her phone rang and she picked it up eagerly. "Hello?"

_"Winter. What was it you needed honey?_" Ari asked. Winter could almost hear the smile in Ari's voice and she breathed a sigh of relief knowing that if Ari was calling this quickly then it meant that the rest of the team was okay.

"There's a chemical in the pills that Adipos Industries are sending out that I can't find and –"

_"Wait."_ She was cut off by Ari. The tone of her voice was one that Winter had heard many times before. _"Why are you looking into Adipose?" _

She couldn't lie, Ari had some odd ability that allowed her to know when people were lying and apparently that also worked over the phone. "I saw the Doctor today."

The gasp resounded through the phone_. "Oh honey, I'm sorry."_ While Ari didn't know what had happened during The Year That Never Was, Jack had told her. He had worried about her and she had known that he was lying when he said he was fine.

He had told her everything that had happened to him and Martha, and he had told her what Winter had done for him. That in turn led to Ari asking Winter what had happened to her – and because Winter needed someone to talk to, she had told Ari everything.

She had spent hours crying over what had happened; letting out tears that hadn't been shed in years and Ari had sat there and comforted her for as long as she needed it.

"Yeh well, anyway . Whatever the Doctor is here for cant be good so I reckon that if I speed the process along, he'll be gone faster."

_"But Winter, what about…the Doctor." _It was hard sometimes to be reminded that there was a Doctor somewhere that didn't hate her – and sometimes it was even harder to wonder why he hadn't come and found her yet.

"What about him?" She asked.

_"Don't you need this one to help you find yours?" _It was confusing when she talked to Ari about the Doctor. His past and future self were so different yet so equally annoying to talk about.

"No. If the Doctor wants to find me then he will. There has to be some reason why he hasn't." But even to her own ears it sounded like Winter was trying to convince herself. Still, Ari didn't say anything about it knowing how touchy the subject was.

_"Okay then." There was a pause before she carried on. "So what were you calling about?" _

"There's a substance in the pills called Exoctolydomide. I can't find it anywhere in any database so I was wondering if you could do that for me?"

"Sure. Give me two hours." This was the work mode. She knew that because Ari didn't even say bye before hanging up the phone. But at least now she had a deadline. All she had to do, was kill time while waiting for the information. And she knew the perfect way to do it.

* * *

**How did you like it? I know it dosent seem like ****_'Partner in Crime' _****But that's cuz it was from Winter's veiw, and remember that it is only part one. **

**So. I was gonna ask you. DO you think that some of the stuff is a little cliche? A reviewer brought it to my attention and was just wondering what you lot thought. **

**Any way, same deal as last time. **

**5 Review - Update in 2 weeks  
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15 Reveiws - Update by weekend  
20 Reviews - Update by Wednesday**

**Happy reviewing! :)**


	15. Chapter 11 part 2

**Thank you everyone for the favourites and the follows. A special thank you to:**

SurvivourHawke: Thanks for the compliment and for the review. I'm glad you enjoy my stories and didn't think it was cliche.

**Sherlockian08299: I'm so happy to have your review and i think your new?...anyway glad you don't think it's cliche and i hope their reunion lives up to your standerds ;)**

grapejuice101: Here's you're update :)

**ElysiumPhoenix: Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like the twist, i wanted to do something no one esle had done and honestly, it didnt make sense that the image of an angel became an angel yet Amy being able to remember it and it not coming to life. It seemed like a way to wrap up loose ends honestly - and though i love that episode, the ending seemed a bit lazy that way. **

ceil-de-crystal: Thanks for the honesty and i thank you for the review.

**The Yoshinator: SO does Winter. **

Lexi (X3): Thanks for the reviews - and yes, River punched her - and they got married. Glad you liked it.

**DoctorDaughterAshlynn: Love your name! I'm so glad you like my story - i try to make it as original as i can. **

ElevensWife: *SQUEAL* Your name is awesome and WInter would agree:) I'm sorry you didnt understand it but i hope you do eventually. Dont worry, it wont be like others where they are constantly going between the two Doctor's so pretty soon Winter will be with one of them for the majority of the time.

**Lindsey: Yeh, i'm usually like the other authors but i have no school so i can write a lot. Right now though i cant write cuz my mum's laptop is really slow and mine dosnet come back till - hopefully - the 21st. So...i'lkl try. But i'm also really busy all this week preparing for a talent show so...cant promise much. **

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Don't Hate the Crime part 2

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Winter had found – from the TV show _Supernatural, _that there were other ways of braking an entering that did not involve using psychic powers, and they had come in quite handy. Using the lock pick she had bought, Winter climbed through the window. People were always so careless with windows; sure they would get the best locks for the front and back doors, but they never think of the windows. And because Winter had worked in Adipose Industries for quite some time, she knew exactly what windows she could fit through. After all, one never knew when one needed an escape route.

Pocketing the lock pick, she moved quietly through the building. Mrs Foster's office was on a higher floor so Winter thought she would start there.

Making her way up the stairs, Winter began to hear voices. She followed them, making sure to stay as quiet as she could until she reached a door. She could hear the voices through the door but she couldn't risk opening it – that was just stupid.

Closing her eyes, she imagined the door as a one way mirror. She could see them but they couldn't see her. When she opened her eyes she grinned; she could practically see the particles of the door changing into what she wanted them to be. Her grin got bigger as she realised she was in the perfect position to see what was going on.

Mrs Foster was standing with her back to Winter and she was talking to a woman who was tied to a chair. "…Officially, the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushes them away. Well, it certainly attracts them. That part's true. But it binds the fat together and galvanises it to form a body." _Well I guess I know what the Exoctolydomide does now._

"What do you mean, a body?" The woman tied to the chair asked. Her voice was borderline hysterical but even Winter could hear the curiosity in her voice.

"I am surprised you never asked about my name. I chose it well. Foster. As in foster mother. And these are my children." Foster took out a little blob of something pink and rubbery looking and Winter held back a gag as she saw it move.

"You're kidding me. What the hell is that?" The woman asked, upset.

"Adipose. It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat." _There goes the name then._

"But I don't understand." The woman said. Winter could see the sigh Foster had given.

"From ordinary human people." She sounded annoyed that she had to explain what it was to the human.

Movement from the corner of her eyes made her look towards the window. There, like she thought was the Doctor – and he seemed to be having an animated conversation with someone. Winter looked to see where he was looking and found Donna there too. Winter refrained from slapping her head; she knew this wouldn't end well.

Suddenly, Foster's voice could be heard. "Are we interrupting you?" She asked, almost amused. There was a pause and then, "get her." Winter could only imagine that the Doctor had told Donna to run because soon, guards were chasing after them. Lucliky for Winter, there was another door they could go out of.

"What about me?" The woman asked. When Winter turned back to look at her she noticed that Foster had left so she opened the door slowly and walked towards the woman.

"Yeh, that would be what I'm, here to help you with." She said. The woman spun around as mush as her ties would let her and looked at Winter hesitantly.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I'm Winter. Winter Swann. What's your name?" She asked as she took care of the binds around the woman's wrist.

"I'm Penny." The lady said. Winter smiled at Penny and she returned it as she rubbed her wrists to get the circulation moving again. "Why were you here?" She asked.

"Same reason as you I suppose." Penny nodded, understanding.

"What do we do now?" Penny asked.

"You? You're gonna go home and write whatever story you want to write." It was said with such a firmness that Penny was almost scared to refuse. "Me, I'm gonna go and help the Doctor."

"You don't sound very happy about it," Penny stated.

"I'm not. But what can you do? Family is family after all." Penny nodded understanding then stuck out her hand.

"Thanks for saving me." She said. Winter hummed as she shook her hand and urged Penny to leave. For now, she had to find the Doctor.

**[][][]**

Once again, using the same device she had to fine the Joule, Winter followed the tracker to where the Doctor was. It helped to have a DNA Sat Nav on her phone – especially when she actually wanted to find the prick.

She followed the co-ordinates all the way to the call centre and once again found the Doctor in the midst of trouble. "You know it's against the law to seed Earth – or any level five planet." How did she know that? _Why _did she know that? And from the looks Foster was giving her, she shouldn't actually know that.

"You!" The Doctor said. _Ahh, forgot my disguise. _ "What are you doing here?" She glared at him.

"Me? What the hell man? This is actually _my _planet so why don't you shut up?" They both glared at each other but were cut off by Foster.

"It doesn't matter. I'm advancing the birth plan. Were going into pre-mature labour." Winter winced. That did not sound fun.

"Uh – just – just – just – hold on a minuet Matron. Do you know what happens when you put two identical sonic devices together?" He asked.

"No." Foster said carefully.

"Nor me." He said grinning. "Lets' find out." As both sonics came together, they created an awfully loud whirling noise. It almost reminded Winter of the Weeping Angel's laughter and that made her flinch sub-consciously.

They all ran to hide in a storage cupboard, the same place the Doctor had hidden in the beginning. It was cramped, but manageable.

"She's wired up the whole building. We need a bit of privacy. Just enough to stop them. Why's she wired up the tower block? What's it all for?" He asked himself not used to anyone answering, which was why he was so surprised when Winter did answer.

"She's probably using it to contact someone. Wouldn't you? Otherwise it doesn't make any sense. But even then…"

"Why are you here?" The Doctor asked angrily again. He didn't need a reminder of what she had let Lucy do. He had been happy without her.

"Why are _you _here?" She asked back, just as ferociously. "I was percfectly happy sort of fitting in and ou come waltzing back. Can't you just –"

"What? Stand back and let it happen?" He spat. "I don't think so. Unlike you I am not a vengeful vindictive coward!"

The anger in Winter grew. "No your not! Because the almighty _Doctor_ can't do anything wrong can he?" From her small corner in the cupboard, Donna watched the two fight. She wondered what had happened that had made them hate each other so much.

"No. You don't do anything wrong. You just take people from their lives, their homes and make it so that they can never go back again. All they want to do is follow you around, listening to you as if they were your pets and you their owner!"

"Oi." That was cutting it a bit personal for Donna. "Watch it missy."

"It's true and you know it!" She said this targeted towards Donna and the Doctor. "He fell into your life, did something heroic and promised you the stars! Whether or not you went with him at the time is irrelevant and do you know why? Because you _still _want to leave with him now!"

"Shut up you." Donna said angrily. "It was my choice! Who are you anyway?"

"That's what you think." Winter said more quietly. "There never is a choice because he dosent give you one. Not really. And I know because I fell for it as well."

"What?" The Doctor asked with a mixture of shock and anger. "What are you talking about?"

"You stupid idiot!" She told him angrily. "I'm from your future!" The Doctor looked at her, shocked and unable to say anything. He hadn't known, or at least, he shouldn't have. "I met you and you whisked me off into space."

Winter sighed as she remembered what happened. "This is getting off topic now. Foster has probably already called the mother ship."

"What did you say?" The Doctor asked slowly. Winter looked at him curiously and repeated her lines. "Of _course_. So far they're just losing weight, but the Matron's gone up to emergency pathogenesis."

"And that's when they convert?" Donna asked.

"Skeletons, organs, everything." The Doctor said with disgust. "A million people are going to die. Got to cancel the signal." He began dismantling the pendant he had gotten. "This contains a primary signal. If I can switch it off, the fat goes back to being just fat." He attached part of the pendant to the inducer but nothing happened.

"No, no, no, no, no." The Doctor cried suddenly. "She's doubled it. I need. Haven't got time. It's too far. I can't override it. They're all gonna die!"

"Is there anything I can do?" Donna asked the Doctor, sympathy in her voice.

"Sorry, Donna, this is way beyond you." Winter frowned ad the Doctor's blatant disregard of Donna. "Got to double the base pulse, I can't."

But Donna insisted, not giving up. "Doctor, tell me. What do you need?"

"I need a second capsule to boost the override, but I've only got the one. I can't save them." And like an angel, Donna held up her pendant to show the Doctor. Winter grinned at the woman. She was beginning to understand what her Doctor meant when he said how wonderful Donna was.

Suddenly there was a loud noise in the sky and everyone looked up as if to see what had made it – but of course, they couldn't.

"What the hell was that?" Donna asked loudly.

"I think it was the mother ship - or well, the nursery ship." Winter said, frowning slightly. "I really think we should leave now." She said.

"Hang on, there are instructions from the first Adiposian family." Something about the way he looked at the screen told Winter that whatever it was, was a bad thing. "Ooh. She's in trouble now." Quickly, the Doctor bolted from the cupboard they were in to the roof where Foster was.

"Matron Cofelia, listen to me." The Doctor insisted.

"Oh, I don't think so, Doctor." She said happily. "And if I never see you again, it'll be too soon."

"Oh, why does no one ever listen?" He asked. _Because you have the hair of an idiot and your fashion sense is weird,_ Winter thought.

"He's trying to help you, you nitwit. Just get across to the roof." Winter was beyond annoyed; these people were stupid and most of the people the Doctor faced ended up dead because of said stupidity.

"What, so that you can arrest me?" Foster asked. _Being arrested is the least of your problems dude._

"Just listen." The Doctor tried again. "I saw the Adiposian instructions. They know it's a crime, breeding on Earth. So what's the one thing they want to get rid of? Their accomplice."

"I'm far more than that. I'm nanny to all these children."

"Exactly!" Donna shouted. "Mum and Dad have got the kids now. They don't need the nanny anymore." As if to prove her point, the levitation beam switched off and Foster was there frozen for a moment before falling with a scream.

It didn't take a genius to know that she wouldn't survive the fall.

**[][][]**

"Oi, whatever happened to that girl?" Donna asked the Doctor, feeling guilty for forgetting the woman who had been trapped.

"While you lot were running off, I got her out of there." Winter said casually. Donna stared at the odd woman – there was something about her, something that was buried under all the hurt and the pain the Doctor seemed to cause her.

"Well, I don't think she'd have been able to take it." She said, happy that the woman was okay. "Well come on then. Off to the TARDIS."

They made their way through the alleyway until they spotted the TARDIS. Donna gave a sqeal of happiness and the Doctor turned to look at her oddly. "That's my car." She explained. "It's like fate, and I've been ready for it."

She went to the car and opened the boot. Sure enough, it was full suitcases of all shapes and sizes – there was even a hat box in there. "Oh yes. Planet of the hats." Donna exclaimed, getting the box out. "I don't need injections, do I? You know, like when you go to Cambodia. Is there any of that? Because my friend Veena went to Bahrain, and she – you're not saying much."

"No, it's just. It's a funny old life, in the TARDIS." The Doctor said carefully.

Donna's whole body curled in on itself as she said her next words. "You don't want me."

"I'm not saying that." T he Doctor told her, quickly trying to fix whatever he had said wrong.

"But you asked me. Would you rather be on your own?" For a moment she turned to look at Winter. It took a while but she caught on and her eyes widened drastically.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no no. God no!" She said drastically.

"Alright." The Doctor said slightly offended.

"No, you don't understand." Winter said, backtracking slightly. "I already have someone – not him." _Well it was partly true_, she thought. It wasn't the Doctor really.

"Well what is it then?" Donna asked.

"The last time, with Martha, like I said, it, it got complicated. And that was all my fault. I just want a mate." A small part of Winter's heart felt sorry that he didn't have anyone – at least, not yet.

"You just want to mate?" It was comical, the way her eyes widened and she took a step back, away from the Doctor. Winter couldn't help but giggle.

"I just want a mate!" The Doctor said, trying to fix it.

"You're not mating with me, sunshine!" Donna exclaimed. She was even further back, in fact, she was hiding behind Winter who was currently trying to not burst out laughing.

"A mate. I want a mate."

"Well, just as well, because I'm not having any of that nonsense. I mean, you're just a long streak of nothing. You know, alien nothing." At that point, Winter burst out into a fit of giggles.

"There we are, then. Okay." It was still slightly awkward between the two of them but Donna ignored it.

"I can come?" Donna asked with hope in her voice.

The Doctor smiled at her happily. "Yeah. Course you can, yeah. I'd love it."

"Oh, that's just…" Donna was speechless and Winter got the impression that it took a lot to get Donna speechless. She watched with a small subdued smile on her face as they almost hugged. But then Donna pulled away with a frown on her face.

"What?" He asked her.

"I've still got my mum's car keys. I won't be a minute." She ran off and the Doctor turned and began pulling Donna's various suitcases to the TARDIS, not talking to Winter.

"So what? Are you gonna just ignore me now?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Who are you to me in the future?" He asked.

Both eyebrows went up. She was not expecting him to ask that question. "I cant tell you that Doctor and you know why." She said softly. Winter restrained from the urge to trace over the pattern on her wrist again.

"Why not? What's going to happen if I know who you are? You can't be _that_ important to me!" It was said in anger but the Doctor regretted it almost instantly as Winter's face grew cold and stony. "Winter I'm sorry I –"

"Shut up!" She hissed. "Shut up and don't speak to me again Doctor. You sanctimonious _prick!_" She began moving away from the Doctor but then stopped and turned to face him. "I hope you know that right now, you _deserve _to have no-one. You disgust me Doctor – and do you know what? I'm _glad _you regenerate! The next you is better than you'll ever be.

"And I hope when you look back and remember this day, that you know that I won't forgive _you._ Ever."

Winter stormed off back to her home. Somewhere at the back of her mind, she was laughing at the fact that they couldn't seem to end a meeting without her storming away from the TARDIS. But right now, Winter was more angry that she had ever been.

She wanted the Doctor to be unhappy. She wanted him to _drop dead_ right there on the ground and – _No! _

That was the Angel talking. She hated the Doctor, even more than before. He had stopped her so many times, and now she wanted his head on a platter.

_No. Stop! _But there was so much anger.

With a jolt, Winter realized that she had once again forgotten to inject herself. She had been so busy looking up Donna that she hadn't realized the Angel was getting stronger and stronger in her mind, and that last little burst was what had driven it to taking over.

A dull, cold feeling crawled over her but Winter fought to stop it. "Oh no you don't." A cold emotionless voice said. "This is my party princess."

The Angel could feel Winter slamming at the wall at the back of her mind. _Now, now, Winter. I believe we need to find you're husband. I have a score to settle with him. _And just like that Winter knew that it wasn't Ten the Angel wanted to find, and because of that she tried so much harder to break the wall down. But however much she tried, it was no use.

The Angel was too strong.

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed it. I would also like to give a special thank you to Anon who said:**

You know this "review or I won't update" shit makes me fucking sick! Just get the fuck over your whiny review pleading

**I would just like to say to whoever that was that I DONT CARE. Opinions like these should be kept to yourself or at lease have the balls to say it as a user not a guest. **

**If you dont like what i do then you are welcome to NOT READ IT. i dont care. My life does not revolve around what people think of me. If it did then i would cry at every little thing people said. **

**Anyway, same deal as last time - only it has to start from next weekend as i have a talent show this week and need time to prepare for that. **

**Have fun people :)**


	16. Chapter 12

**Here it is. Again, bit different but really it is sooo hard writing out the whole chapters. But don't worry, it is still interesting - or at least i think so. **

**So, thank you to:**

**ElysiumPhoenix - Sorry I'm so mean but the meaness means that you like it :) Thank you for the review and loving my story. You are AWESOME!**

Skidney - I hope you think this chapter is as awesome as the last.

**grapejuice101 - well if that's what you believe should happen then i think you'll find you like this chapter :]**

SurvivourHawke - I agree. THough i love 10 in the tv show (yess he's coming back) 11 is my Doctor. He is great - well he was untill the Ponds died, then the writing became kinda bad. Anyway... i'll be so sad to see him go but i do kinda wonder who will be the next Doctor dont you?

**The Yoshinator - so glad you liked the drama i put in there. I was reading through my story and noticed that i got progressivly darker as i went on. Huh, it's interesting to see what you come up with as you get older isnt it? Anyway, like i said, i did singing in the talent show and one of my acts came second:] :) but the other one came second to last :( Oh well. You win some you loose some that's what i say. **

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**Trapped in The Library**

* * *

There they were. The infuriating set of humans that she would have to interact with in order to get what she wanted.

There were no species more that the Angel couldn't stand – apart from the Greznian race. They were purely animalistic and their life span was so short that there was barely enough Time Energy for The Lonely Assassins to feast on. Though humans were no better.

That was why the Angel had been so surprised that her host was so…delicious. The girl – Winter was an anomaly, the kind that the Angel enjoyed devouring from the inside out. And as if that wasn't enough, the girl had the beginnings of the essence of Timelord.

The girl's Timelord brain had helped her in making the wall that she hid behind during the torture, however it was not enough. So, to prevent her meal from dying, the Angel had added her own tiny smidgen of help. The human's brain was now stronger.

The extra kick even a half Timelord had was enough to give Winter the strength to keep fighting. Most hosts would have died down by now, the Angel's mind overpowering them into submission but not this one. Oh no, this human just had to be _special_.

However that had almost been lost during the Year That Never Was. Winter had been so close to tipping over the edge into a raging inferno of pain and madness that the Angel had stepped in; there was after all, no use in having a host to feed off of if the host was not alive was there?

While the setback to her having to do this was large, the flip side to this though, was that once the Angel was in control, she was in control for longer periods of time. This, in the Angel's eyes measured out well enough.

That was the one and only thing the Angel would thank the Timelord know as the Doctor for. His meddling was enough to get Winter angry enough to forget about the medicine that she would take.

The Angel smiled at the irony. She suspected that the man, who _cured,_ would have more than enough death on his hands by the time she killed him. And what a marvellously slow killing it would be. She _would_ extract revenge on him for killing her sisters!

"_You won't get away with it!"_ Another drawback. The sigh that escaped the Angel's lips was loud and long as she listened to her host rant and rave about a plethora of points she had no care for. The Angel could feel Winter banging on the mental cage she had concocted to keep the Angel in.

"_Jack and Ari will know that there's something wrong and stop you!" _So the man who would serve her purpose had a name. Though it wouldn't bother her if she killed the man who had tried to stop her months before – no, she couldn't have cared less. But the Angel did enjoy knowing the name of someone who meant so much to Winter.

_But that's where you're wrong,_ the Angel purred. _I know enough about you to act like you. You forget, I was never dormant in your mind – only stuck in a cage!_ Winter jumped away from the cage at the Angel's anger. It was fearsome.

_All I need to do is ask, and they'll give their precious Winter whatever her little heart desires. _And as it so happened, the Angel needed the thing strapped to Jack's wrist. From Winter's memories she had seen that the thing could transport through time and that was just what she needed.

"_It won't work!" _She was so adamant but the Angel knew.

_We'll see._

**[][][]**

"Winter!" The happy voice of Ari Addams made its way to the Angel's ears. It was loud and screechy but she had to play her role.

"Ari." She grinned, embracing the woman in a hug. There was something different about this woman, the Angel could smell it, but she couldn't identify it. Whatever it was, the Angel could smell the Time Energy rolling off the human in waves.

"How are you? The last time we spoke, you said you saw…him." The Angel froze in anger at the mention of the Doctor but she recovered quickly. She hoped that the human had not seen her relapse of control.

She looked over to see if there was any indication that the human was suspicious but what she saw in her eyes made her smile internally. The human seemed to have the emotion known as concern for Winter. _Idiot. _

Pausing for a moment, the Angel recalled Winter's speech patterns and formed a string of sentences from Winter's conscious thought. "I'm fine." She spoke harshly. "He saw me, we argued, he saved the world and we argued again."

The human's eyes softened and the Angel took it as her indication that she had succeeded. "But never mind that. I need to ask Jack something." Ari nodded and led her over to the office that she supposed Jack as in.

The Angel didn't bother to knock on the door before she walked into the room. "Well look who's here." He said grinning. "Long time no see Winter." At the sight of Jack the Angel felt Winter begin to slam at the walls again but it was no use. Nothing was letting her out unless the Angel was forced back into her mind.

"I've been busy." The Angel said. She smiled a 'regretful' smile but on the inside she was smirking at how easily it was to fool the people that Winter called her family.

"So what do ya need?" He asked.

"Your Vortex Manipulator." Jack frowned at Winter. Why would she need that for? It wasn't like she needed to go anywhere.

"Why do you need it Winter?" He asked slowly. The Angel bit her lip. She would need to tread carefully now.

"I need to find the Doctor. _My Doctor._ I can't do it anymore; I miss him too much and – and it _hurts_ Jack. It physically _hurts _to be away from him." The Angel made sure there were tears in her eyes while she said this. Jack looked at her sadly and she waited for his response.

"It's broken Winter – you can't fix it." The Angel knew that this wasn't said in denial of her request but because he was sorry he couldn't help her and mentally she grinned. She had him, hook line and sinker.

"I know but I can fix it. I managed to get you to Earth with a _mobile phone._ I can do it Jack. Just – please…" Jack looked at her for a moment, thinking it over. He still didn't look like he wanted to give it to her so the Angel pulled out a trick she _knew_ would work.

"What would you do if it was Ari?" And just like that the Angel saw his answer. He unclipped the Manipulator and handed it to her, hugging her as he did.

"Just make sure you visit us every once in a while – and if you cant find him then you're always welcome here. Remember that Winter." She nodded and wiped away the fake tears that fell from her eyes.

"Thank you Jack." She whispered with a smile. And she really did.

**[][][]**

It was finally fixed. The Angel smiled in glee.

Days it had taken. _Days_ to fix the fucking thing. It would have taken less time if it hadn't been for Winter and her sudden ability to withhold certain pieces of _needed _information from the Angel. She was only able to obscure the information while she was awake – Winter did not yet know how to keep in whilst unconscious – and so the Angel would have to wait for the pestering human to become so tired she would sleep.

But, by the end of the third week, the Angel had managed to get the Manipulator to work. She smiled at it in her hand and strapped it on. Now all she had to do was type in the co-ordinates.

She began to when she was interrupted by a beeping noise. Looking at the Manipulator she saw that there were already co-ordinates planned into them – and they were the wrong ones.

"No._ No. NO!"_ She screamed loudly trying to stop it from working but it was too late.

"_I told you you wouldn't get away with it," _she heard Winter's voice sounding smug.

_What did you do you pathetic slimy little ghasta! _

"_I programmed the device for you. You're welcome." _No! This human was messing up all her plans. It wasn't supposed to go like this. She didn't even know where the co-ordinates where taking her. _"I'll make you pay!" _

_I'm sure you will._

**[][][]**

He never would have thought that The Library – a place of peace and something that brought happiness to so many people would create so much death. It upset the Doctor that they had already lost people; Evangalista, Other Dave. He hadn't been able to sae them and he should have.

But he couldn't think about that now – he had so many other people that he could save. That he would save. "A hundred years ago, massive power surge. All the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm. The computer tries to teleport everyone out."

"It tried to teleport four thousand twenty two people?" River asked, not quite believing. She had seen some super computer in her time, made a couple as well but that was just…

"It succeeded." The Doctor told her. "Pulled them all out, but then what? Nowhere to send them. Nowhere safe in the whole library. Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. Four thousand and twenty two people all beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?"

"It saved them." She exclaimed.

Taking out a pen from his pocket, the Doctor began to explain what must have happened. "The library. A whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history.

"The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved four thousand and twenty two people the only way a computer can. It saved them to the hard drive."

Quite suddenly, an alarm sounded throughout the Library. "What is it? What's wrong?" Lux asked.

**Auto-destruct enabled in twenty minutes.** The Computer confirmed. But then another sound – a sort of blaring sound could be heard. **Warning. Warning. External teleportation device found. External teleportation device found. **

"What's going on Doctor?" River asked. There shouldn't be any more teleports in The Library except for one of theirs and they certainly weren't using them.

"I dunno." The Doctor said unhappily. Too much was happening and he needed to find Donna and bring her back soon. River, sensing his uneasiness changed the subject quickly.

"What's maximum erasure?" She asked quickly.

"In twenty minutes, this planet's going to crack like an egg."

"No." Lux denied. "No, it's all right. The Doctor Moon will stop it. It's programmed to protect Cal." But his words were in vain because as soon as they were said, terminal screen went blank.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" The Doctor cried. Now wasn't the time for this to be happening. It couldn't happen! Nothing was going well!

**All library systems are permanently offline. Sorry for any inconvenience.** The computer's automated voice said through speakers. There was suddenly nothing the Doctor wanted to hear less.

As id that wasn't bad enough, Lux began panicking about something. "We need to stop this. We've got to save Cal."

"What is it?" The Doctor asked for what seemed to be like the thousandth time. "What is Cal?"

"We need to get to the main computer. I'll show you." Lux told him with a resigned smile. There was no way he could get out of it now – not if he wanted to save her.

"It's at the core of the planet!" The Doctor exclaimed unhappily.

"Well, then. Let's go." River pointed her Screwdriver at the middle of the compass rose in the floor and it immediately opened up. "Gravity platform." She said proudly.

"I bet I like you." The Doctor said, grinning at River for the first time in ages.

"Oh, you do." She said smiling back. "But you like Winter more." She said quietly once he had turned his back. It didn't take long for them to reach the Data Core with the speed the platform was traveling at.

**Autodestruct in fifteen minutes.**The computer once again reminded them.

The Doctor looked up and around the room to see a globe with swirling energy in it. "The Data Core." He said with awe. "Over four thousand living minds trapped inside it."

"Yeah, well, they won't be living much longer. We're running out of time." They got to wrok quickly, the Doctor looking around for what he needed. Just as he found it the access terminal, they heard a voice.

"Help me. Please, help me." T he voice of a little girl said in a sad tone.

"What's that?" Anita asked worriedly. It had spooked her, it sounded so much like someone ghosting and she didn't want to hear that again.

"Was that a child?" River asked.

"The computer's in sleep mode. I can't wake it up. I'm trying." He tapped the keyboard and a group of toys came to life like magic in a little girl's home. He watched the curiously until he heard River.

"Doctor, these readings." River said frowning slightly at what she was seeing.

"I know." He replied. "You'd think it was dreaming."

" It is dreaming, of a normal life, and a lovely Dad, and of every book ever written." Lux told them sadly. He looked around the place, unhappy at what it had come to and what had had to happen to her her.

"Computers don't dream." Anita said confused.

"No," he agreed. "But little girls do." He pulled a breaker and doors opened. They took no time to run in the next room after him. All of them wondering what they might find.

**[][][]**

The Angel groaned as it landed somewhere. This was not good. This was stimulating her pain receptors – this _hurt._ Either Winter hadn't known that traveling like this was going to hurt so much or she had.

If that was the case then the Angel knew that she had managed to keep the information from her once again. And by the smug feeling Winter had, the Angel knew that she had planned it.

_You bitch!_ She groaned in pain. She could feel herself being pulled back into the recess' of Winter's mind and she hated it. She would get out eventually though, and once she did, she would let nothing stop her from reaching her goal. That she promised.

Winter smiled as she gained control of her body once again. It had been hard this time, watching as the Angel had deceived Jack and Ari, listening to it's thoughts as it potted and planned to kill Eleven.

It had been so hard to listen to it and not be able to do anything but she had fought. Winter had fought tooth and nail to gain back even a smidgen of control and eventually she had.

Withholding information was the only way she could stop the Angel so she did as she could. Her plan had worked in the end, though it had only done so because the Angel had lowered her guard slightly. She wouldn't be so underestimating if she managed to get out again. So she couldn't let that happen.

She got up and looked around. She had no clue where she was but wherever it was, it didn't feel real. It was almost like she was in a dream.

"That's because you are." Winter yelped and jumped around to look at the voice. There stood a woman in a long Victorian style black dress with a veil covering her face.

"What do you mean? Who are you?" The woman shifted and seemed to do something under the veil but Winter couldn't see what it was.

"Don't worry. It'll be over soon."

**[][][]**

The Doctor woke up in time to see River joining the cables and agitation walked over him as he realized what she was doing. "Oh, no, no, no, no. Come on, what are you doing? That's my job."

" Oh, and I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose?" River asked lightly, as if what she was doing wasn't going to kill her in a matter of minuets.

"Why am I handcuffed?" He asked, moving them around. "Why do you even have handcuffs?"

"Spoilers."

"This is not a joke." He said angrily. "Stop this now. This is going to kill you! I'd have a chance, you don't have any."

"You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I. I'm timing it for the end of the countdown. There'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download." It was said so matter-of-factly that the Doctor couldn't believe it. But one look in her eyes and he saw the determination there.

"River, please. No." He begged.

"Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die. All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here." She smiled sadly as she thought about the last time she had seen _her_ Doctor, _her_ Winter.

"The last time I saw you two, the real you, the future you, I mean, you turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit. You took me to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. What a night that was. The Towers sang, and you and Winter cried.

**Auto-destruct in one minute.**

"You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the library. Winter even gave me her screwdriver. That should have been a clue. She loves that thing." From the corner of her eye she saw him trying to reach for the screwdrivers. "There's nothing you can do."

"You can let me do this." He begged once more.

"If you die here, it'll mean that Winter would never meet you." The Doctor looked closely at her. That was the second time she had mentioned Winter.

"Time can be rewritten."

"Not with her it can't. Those times I've seen you with her…you looked so happy, so at peace. You loved her so much and I lover her just as much for making you that happy."

"River, you know my name." It was a desperate act – something to keep her talking, to make her forget what she was about to do. But it was also a genuine burning curiosity.

**Auto-destruct in ten**

"You whispered my name in my ear."

**Nine. Eight. Seven**

"There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could." He wanted to know. No – he needed to know.

"But you didn't tell me your name Doctor. There's only one person in the world you would tell your name to and it's not me."

**Four. Three.**

River looked him in the eyes completely. This was her last chance to help fix things because they were not supposed to be like this. "And you need to tell her you're sorry."

**Two. One**..

She joined the power couplets together and everything went up in a flash of brilliant white light.

**[][][]**

The Doctor put River's diary onto the railing of the stairs just looking at it. "Your friend, Professor Song." Donna began. "She knew you in the future, she didn't know me, but she knew Winter. What happens to me? Because when she heard my name, the way she looked at me."

"Donna, this is her diary." He told her, showing it to her. "My future. I could look you up. What do you think? Shall we peek at the end?"

Donna looked at it for a moment but then shook her head. "Spoilers, right?" She asked.

"Right." But it was more than that. In a way, it was the Doctor's way of honouring Professor River Song. There was only two things she had asked of him – and he promised he would do them.

"Come on. The next chapter's this way." They began walking up the stairs slowly, sadly.

_When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it will never end. But however hard you try, you can't run for ever. Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it like the Doctor…But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark, if he ever, for one moment, accepts it._

The Doctor suddenly found himself running back for the screwdriver. "Why? Why would I give her my screwdriver? Why would I do that? Thing is, future me had years to think about it, all those years to think of a way to save her, and what he did was give her a screwdriver. Why would I do that?"

He lifted a flap and saw it contained two flashing green lights. "Oh! Oh! Oh, look at that. I'm very good!"

"What have you done?" Donna asked. She didn't know what was going on but it must have been something good for the Doctor to be smiling like that.

"Saved her."

He began running. He ran faster than he had ever done before but as he did so, one of the lights began going out. "Stay with me! You can do it, stay with me! Come on. Stay with me and I promise I'll make it up with Winter!"

_Everybody knows that everybody dies. But not every day.__Not today._

The Doctor plugged the screwdriver into the core just in time to transfer the neutral energy and smiled a small, happy smile. He had done it. He had saved her.

A small groan erupted from behind him and the Doctor turned around quickly as he heard it.

Shock flew through his eyes as he saw who it was. "Winter?" He asked not quite believing it. Winter looked at him but her eyes couldn't focus. She had used too much energy trying to keep things from the Angel.

"Help." She whispered and crumpled to the ground. The Doctor caught her just in time and held her in his arms tightly.

He would forgive her. He would. Because he had promised River.

* * *

**Soooo...I was thinking that i would do another OC story, only it would be a hell of a lot darker than this one and it would be a Master/OC story. What do you guys think?**

**I already kind of have a plot set out and i have the charechter's name...Kalithea from the house of Rainnan. **

**What do you think? Send me your ideas. **


	17. Chapter 13

**This one is sort of a filler chapter, but it also isn't. This is where a huge part of the progress between Ten and Winter happens so enjoy. P.S, i'm sorry of you think i hate 10, i really dont it's just that he's so easy to shout at sometimes, you know what i mean? I mean 11 is cute when he does something dumb but 10...i dunno i guess its cuz he's older and shouldn't be so judgemental. **

**i know that seems wrong cuz 11 is older but i dunno. What do you think?**

**REVIEW SHOUT OUTS!**

**SurvivorHawke -** **Well, everyone has their own opinion on what type of stories they like so thank you for it but yes, 10 is making progress so that's good. Also i cant tell you about the Angel thing. You're just gonna have to wait and see. **

KatieTheBaka - Lol. I love your commentary. You should become a professional at it. Anyway, Here it is, the next installment. Hope you like it.

**skidney - I'm glad you thought the chapter was wonderfull. I love it when people think that about my stories. Yayyy :)**

ElysiumPhoenix - Well like i said, it is the turning point - well for 10 at least. We still have to see what Winter thinks. Also, your welcome for the shout out, (here's another ;) lol) and i'm sorry for being mean. i dont mean to write out such big cliffies, they just happen. I only go with the flow.

* * *

The Truth Hurts

* * *

It had been days before the Doctor had managed to wake Winter up. She had been comatose for hours due to having to restore her depleted energy once again but when the Doctor had examined her, he had noticed that the energy was replenishing itself twice as fast as it should have been.

Eventually, after days in the Zero Room; a room that held no interfering forces that could jeopardise her chances of getting better, Winter woke up.

It had been Donna who had found her. Winter had managed to escape the Zero Room somehow and made her way to the Library. The Doctor had panicked and made Donna help search throughout the whole of the TARDIS and it had taken hours - especially considering Donna didn't know the TARDIS properly yet.

Stumbling and grumbling through one door, Donna's eyes met with the tall metallic walls filled top to bottom with books. Columns upon columns and rows layering rows of different sized books that seemed to have no end and in the middle of all these books was Winter, lying on the ground.

"Winter?" Donna called out but the woman didn't move. With a burst of energy she didn't know she had, Donna rushed over to Winter and kneeled beside her. Now she was closer she could see that Winter was awake and she breathed a sigh of relief.

But the relief didn't last long. Winter's body was racked with sobs as she cried silently on the floor. It was too much. The energy she had used up - though replaced - felt wrong. It wasn't hers but the Angels and all too soon, she knew that it would take over again.

And if that wasn't bad enough, Winter had woken up to a completely foreign TARDIS. Yes she was the same TARDIS in a way, but on the outside…it was different. It was too different and Winter just couldn't handle it.

Some part of her felt Donna's comforting touch and moved towards it and another part of her heard the Doctor's name being called out and she once again broke down. This Doctor wasn't hers. This Doctor _hated _her. For what seemed to be the hundredth time, Winter's body wracked with pain. Her Bond was trying to bring her closer to her Mate but he wasn't coming.

Something else had layered itself into the pain as well. A kind of betrayal was there. It was small and altogether illogical, because Winter knew that the Doctor couldn't come and get her. The timelines were working their way through their lives, but that wasn't going to be explained to the Bond.

"Doctor? What's wrong with her?" Donna asked once Winter was carefully placed back into the Zero Room. She still needed to rest, something was wrong with her. But whatever that something was, Donna had no clue about it.

"I don't know." The Doctor answered truthfully. "It's almost like -" His eyes widened and suddenly he knew what was wrong.

Timelords and Ladies were not simple creatures. Their biology alone was hard to replicate and what made it harder was that it was the Timeladies that were needed to carry on the Timelord gene. It was harder for a Lady to be born mainly because they were even more complicated than Lords. A Timelady needed to be able to travel through time and space without any internal damage but they also needed to be able to give birth.

It had become clear, looking back through their history that whenever a Timelady was born, there was a small chance she would reproduce another female. That was of course unless she was with her Bondmate.

"Doctor?" Donna asked snapping him out of his thoughts. As he looked at her she could see the confusion clear in his eyes.

"That's not possible," he whispered.

"What's not possible? What's wrong with her?" Donna asked loudly. The Doctor looked down at the woman in his arms that was still shaking - though not as uncontrollably as before.

"She has a Bond! How can she have a Bond? She's not- there aren't any - there _can't_ be."

"What?" Donna was confused. "You're not making any sense. What's a Bond?"

"A Bond is for all intense and purposes, a marriage." Donna gave him a look.

"So? What's so special about that?" She asked not understanding.

"It's so much more than that though. A Bond only happens between two people that at completely right for each other in every aspect of their lives. To have a Bondmate is like being whole. You don't think about anyone apart from them, you love them completely, you put their needs above your own every time." The Doctor said sadly, realizing what had been happening. What Winter had sacrificed for him.

"I still don't get it. What's so wrong with that?" Donna asked, staring at the Doctor. Something had changed, he looked at Winter with understanding and something else as well.

"Because Donna. It _only_ ever happens between Timelords."

Donna gasped. "So that means that Winter is a Timelord?" She asked carefully. The Doctor had mentioned that he was the last. But if Winter was here and she was a Timelord then he wasn't alone anymore.

"But that's the thing. She isn't! I ran every check trying to find out what she was and almost every check came up with the same thing. Human. But she isn't. She can't be!"

"But then how else can she have a Bond? And who is it?"

The Doctor picked up Winter's wrist and looked at the tattoo's on it. He remembered doing the same ting months ago - when he had first met Winter and he remembered what Hope and Elation meant to him. "Oh Winter. I'm sorry. I'm_ so_, so sorry."

And just like that Donna knew who Winter had Bonded to. She watched as the Doctor lifted Winter up and gently hugged her to his chest. She watched as the tears formed in his eyes. And she watched as he let them fall. Moving slowly out the rooms, Donna closed the door behind her. But even through the door she could still hear the Doctor's mumbled apologies.

The Doctor didn't even notice Donna walk out. He just sat there holding on to Winter tightly. everything made sense now; why she was in so much pain when he found her; why she had the TARDIS key, why she had protected it with her life. Her body had perceived his as a threat, one that was about to take away the only safe haven she knew.

That was also why she had carried on helping him, even when he had been such a bastered to her. The Bond was taking what it could. He may not have been the original Doctor in her eyes, but the Bond recognised him as a previous regeneration and so used him to stabilize the Bond as much as it could.

_They must not have fully Bonded,_ he thought._ Otherwise I wouldn't have been so hostile towards her._ But he knew that was horrible excuse for how he had treated her. Winter had given up so much of herself to save him and it wasn't fair.

She was bound by the Bond to feel the way she did towards him. There was nothing she could do because even though she may have hated him, she also couldn't help but love him. And he had told her that she wasn't anyone important to him in his future. _I must have broken her heart._

"I'm so sorry Winter. I didn't realize and I know that's a terrible excuse and I know you'll never want to forgive me but I _truly am _sorry." He whispered in her ear. The silent tears and sobs had stopped as he had held her but she still wouldn't open her eyes.

"I'll do everything I can to make it up to you Winter." He promised her as he stroked her damp hair away from her face.

"You promised me Doctor." She whispered. The Doctor jumped slightly, not realizing she had woken up. "You promised that you would always come back for me but you didn't."

"I know. And I'm sorry." He replied, knowing it was the Bond talking. The betrayal she was feeling towards this regeneration and her regeneration would be affection her so he held her close to him once more. "I'm so so sorry Winter."

"It hurts Doctor. It hurts." She cried, holding on to him. The Doctor wondered if she knew that the Doctor she was holding wasn't hers but quickly pushed that thought away. He wouldn't hurt her any more.

"I know Winter. I'm going to stop it hurting. I promise." He held his hands on her head and closed his eyes. Using the Bond, he poured as much of his psyche into it as he could and as he did so, he felt the Bond grown happier and stronger. Winter wouldn't feel the pain as much anymore and so long as he continued to do so often, she wouldn't have to again.

He watched as her eyes closed and a sigh of relief escaped through her lips. "Sleep Winter." He told her and she quite happily complied.

The Doctor watched her as she finally slept peacefully for the first time in a long time and a sad smile came to his face. He had found the message his future self had left him and he would look through it soon. Right now though, he would make sure Winter stayed asleep.

**[][][]**

"Is she okay now?" Donna asked the Doctor as he stepped through the door to the Console Room. He looked so sad and almost…angry with himself that Donna almost wanted to ask if _he _was okay.

"Yeh, she's sleeping properly now. She'll sleep for a good few hours." He moved over to the Console and began pressing buttons. Donna had been with him long enough to know that they weren't the buttons and levers he used to travel somewhere so she let him carry on. If they had been, he would have gotten a piece of her mind.

"Doctor, is she your Bond or mate or whatever she is?" The Doctor paused for a minuet and looked over to Donna before nodding.

"Yes. She is, or at least, she will be."

"Was she like that because of the Bond?" She asked. Again the Doctor nodded. "Then why don't you feel any pain? Why were you so cruel to her that time?" The Doctor didn't answer her for a while and Donna became angry.

"Doctor what did you do?"

"I hurt her okay?" He shouted. Donna took a step back in surprise. "The Bond - at some point in the future, Winter and I Bond! I don't know when or where but what I do know is that it wasn't complete properly. It's unstable and Winter isn't a Timelady, she doesn't know what's going on." His hands flew into his hair in agitation and sorrow.

"Well what is going on?"

"When a Timelady Bonds, her Bondmate has to stay by her side until the Bond stabilizes but for whatever reason, Winter ended up in 1964 _without_ my future regeneration."

"But what does that matter? You're the same people aren't you?"

"No." He said shaking his head. "I mean in a sense we are but Winter needs her Doctor for the Bond to stabilize properly. And because he can't risk crossing the timelines, Winter is stuck here. He hasn't come for her and the Bond is hurting her to get back to him!"

"But there had to be something you can do." Donna urged him.

"I did what I could but I already hurt her. Because the Bond hadn't stabilized I didn't recognise Winter for what she was. I said so many terrible things to her - and that just added extra pain on top of what she's already feeling."

He looked so sad and broken that Donna couldn't help it. She walked over to him and wrapped him in a hug. "You've tried to fix it Doctor. That's what matters."

"I shouldn't have to fix anything. I treated her horribly. That's my fault. She'll never forgive me." He whispered back.

"I think that's for her to decide. Not you."

**[][][]**

The Doctor looked around the organised chaos that was his room. From his time in the Academy, he had never really bothered to clean his room properly though now the TARDIS complained about it like the mother hen she was.

He couldn't even really remember the last time he had slept in his room - or slept at all really. Whenever he did, his dreams were filled with the cries of his people as The Moment had been used to trap them in their own personal hell.

He couldn't stand the guilt and so he ran from it with every chance he got. He had, after all, been one of the ones to run away and he truly had never stopped. But now he couldn't run away, not this time because if he did, he could only be hurting Winter even more.

Closing his eyes firmly, he moved through Winter's memories and located the message his future self had left for him. Locating it, he opened it. It was now or never.

_He was trapped in thoughts, thoughts that were similar and yet so different to his own. He couldn't move but he knew that he was safe. He trusted himself enough to know that while Winter was in his care, he wouldn't be hurt. _

_"Ah Ten. Long time no see." The voice sounded through. He couldn't see anyone but he didn't try to look either. "Of course, you can't really see me and that's good. If you could, it would be very, very not good. Oh but there I go rambling. You never really lose the rambling I guess." _

_There was a small part of the Doctor that was glad that the man he would one day turn out to be was somewhat like him - even if he did seem a bit crazier than himself. _

_"Well, you found the message which means that you've finally come to know what Winter means to us." There was a pause, as if he was trying to find the words to say. "I know why you acted the way you did and believe me, I would do anything to change it but I can't. You have to deal with what you've done now and it will be hard. _

_"Winter is broken. The Bond isn't finished and you know what that means. But there is more coming. Winter is going to face things that will be incredibly hard on her. I can't tell you when but they will come soon. _

_"You have to look after her now. You know what she is, you know who she's going to be so don't be scared when the inevitable happens. Winter is good for you. She'll help you but first, you have to return the favor._

_"Save her from herself! Because if I find that when Winter comes back to be she is broken - I don't care if I create the largest paradox in the universe. I will make your life hell!" _

_The words were spoken with so much force that the Doctor felt himself shake. He didn't need to be warned, he already knew what he was capable of. He knew that the males were the more protective of the two Bondmates and that protection would come up against anyone - even oneself it would seem. _

_But the Doctor was going to help her. He owed Winter that and so much more. He wondered if he would even be alive if it wasn't for her. He just hoped that he hadn't taken it too far. _

_"Oh and before forget. She will forgive you, just give it time." _

And just like that, the Doctor was back on his room. He wouldn't be the one to hurt Winter anymore. This time, he would be the one to protect her.

* * *

**SO GUYS, only 5 reviews, kinda sad but oh well, life goes on. Anyway i would really like to know what you think because honestly, i find it harder to write for 10 than 11. But heym 11 is my doctor so... anyway, only one person gave me feedback on my other story idea. I would really like to know what you guys think (that is why i put it there ;)) so tell me. **

**Oh and a little bt of help for writing for Donna - she is my fave companion (apart from Rory and Winter of course) but i find it really hard to write for her in original chapters so? Any help? **

**BTW next chapter will be another original one so it may take some time. **


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